


The flames which I cannot see

by Kireeeshima



Category: One Piece
Genre: Ace is blind but trying to hide it, Alive Thatch (One Piece), Angst and Humor, Blind!Ace, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Marco is a flaming pigeon, Teach doesn't exist, That bitch gone, ace is a little shit, but Marco is almost as bad anyways, he has observation haki thats how he 'sees', too bad Ace doesn't know Marco looks like a pineapple
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-08
Updated: 2019-02-28
Packaged: 2019-07-08 17:01:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 19,292
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15934661
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kireeeshima/pseuds/Kireeeshima
Summary: Ace was born blind, but he saw that he deserved that, that it was his punishment because he is the son of the Devil. He's never seen colors, the vast ocean, nor the monsters that Luffy always said looked so cool.He's never seen the said to be beautiful flames of the blue phoenix.All he knows is that said Phoenix is a damn flaming pigeon.And a pineapple, according to Luffy at least.





	1. A Flaming Pigeon

**Author's Note:**

> (the first paragraph is in Marco's POV but reverts to 3rd POV for the rest of the fic.) 
> 
> GAH FINALLY FINISHED THIS! Just one more wip and another unwritten fic and I can work on my main fic. Whew! 
> 
> So, in a lot of fics with Marco in it, I've seen them portray him as a listless guy with a bored emotionless mask on. (not that I mind, thats interesting too) But in the few canon content scenes we have of him, he seems like a snarky kinda dude, making jokes and sarcastic comments with Ace. And cheerful. Damn have you seen that smile when he explained why they call whitebeard Pops? That was the happiest damn pineapple I've ever seen. So I'll base this Marco off of that. 
> 
> Oh, Ace is a little shit here and he's hiding the fact that he's blind for reasons that'll be better explained later.

He was a young rookie with lots of fire in his spirit. 

Literally.

He was literally made of fire- a fire logia to be exact. 

 

He suddenly appeared on our ship, saying he’ll take our captains head. We weren’t particularly worried in the slightest. We’ve heard that countless times. Many rookies sometimes come after Whitebeard’s head but fail terribly, this kid was no expectation. He was an up-and-coming rookie, he quickly gained a reputation after getting into the Grand Line, so he probably got conceited and thought he could he could take the strongest man on the seas. He challenged Whitebeard and got sent flying. Most usually give up after such an overwhelming defeat, but he kept trying. And trying. And trying. And trying… this kid was pretty stubborn it seems. 

Now, of course, there have been times when there are particularly stubborn pirates who tried a few times to kill pops, but this? This was on a whole nother level. Every single day this kid tried to kill pops. Determination always strong in his eyes. And every day he failed. After about a week of nonstop attempts, pops began hitting him overboard, making poor Namur fish him out each time. It became a normal occurrence, whether it be morning or night, Ace would be sent flying (usually through a wall or something) and more than likely fall into the sea for Namur or someone else to save him. Only for it to repeat again the next day. 

He wore a pale yellow open t-shirt with black shorts, an orange belt with an “A” on it. A tattoo reading “ACE” (with a crossed-out S before the C) could sometimes be seen under his sleeves. He was muscular and had a freckled face, wearing dark sunglasses that covered his eyes from everyone else(for some reason he was never seen without it), and an orange cowboy hat atop his head with some kind of blood red necklace around his neck. His name was Portgas D. Ace. 

x.x.x

“Here, dinner.” Marco said as he placed down a plate of hot food on the floor. Ace had his knees up to his chest and looked up at Marco, despite dark shades covering Ace’s eyes, Marco could guess he was probably being glared at from the scrunching of his eyebrows. 

“It’s not poisoned, yoi. Never is, otherwise, you’d have died weeks ago. Eat up, Thatch worked hard on it as always.” Ace continued to glare at him. 

“How did you find me again?” Ace growled.

“Well one, it’s our ship. And two, I’ll find you even if you hide. Now eat, before it gets cold.” Marco gestured to the plate of food. 

“Not hungry.” Ace’s stomach growled loudly right after he said that, immediately Ace flinched and buried his face in his knees with a low grumble. Marco smirked slightly, half-lidded eyes full of amusement. 

“Right. Thatch is glad you never leave any food behind, he’s always furious when someone wastes the food he cooks, yoi.” Marco turned around and slowly began walking off, his sandals making soft sounds against the wood with every step until it was silent again. Ace turned his head where he smelt the food was at. Hesitantly, he reached out towards the area and fumbled around till he found the fork, picking it up and stabbing randomly until he felt it stab something. Carefully, he lifted it up and brought the meat to his mouth, eating the quite honestly very delicious meat. The first bite was uncertain, the second was slightly faster, third was normal, the rest he was practically eating it like he hasn’t had a meal in years. 

Sometimes he’d stab just the plate and no meat, and he’d just stab at random spots until he managed to pick up something or until he realized nothing was left. It was always like this since arriving here and getting meals. He didn’t understand, why did they serve him such good and safe to eat food? Why did they treat him like an equal when he’s constantly trying to kill their captain? They’re such a weird bunch… Ace reached out for the plate, picking it up and carefully making his way to where he sensed the cook was, Thatch, was it? No matter how much he hated (did he really?) this crew, Makino always told him he should have common courtesy, especially if they treated him. And they have been. The least he can do is thank the cook for cooking meals for him for so many weeks already… better now than never. 

Even though he's never been in this area of the ship, it shouldn’t be too hard to get to where the kitchen is from here. At some point, he sensed the one that always delivered the food to him no matter where he hid, Marco, the First Division Commander, near the cook. Marco was more well known so it was easier to remember his name. He didn’t want to conversate and luckily it seemed like Marco was leaving where Thatch was- well he was coming his direction but he’d just walk around him. As Marco got closer, Ace stepped to the side to pass by him- but as he took a step forward, his foot hooked onto a stair and he trampled forward, falling down onto his side but he kept the plate from breaking. Ace cursed to himself and he heard the others footsteps stop. 

“You alright, yoi?” Marco’s voice sounded. Ace grit his teeth. 

“Just staring off into space.” His reply was short, irritated, and practically just a grumble. Ace got himself up, and to Ace’s relief, it seemed like the other decided not to question him any further and went on his way again. Ace continued making his way to the kitchen- this time paying attention to how his footsteps sound so the same thing wouldn’t happen again. Eventually, he reached the kitchen, the door was closed, he could tell from how the sound of his footsteps bounced off a hollow wall, meaning a door. He knocked softly twice- maybe this was a bad idea because he doesn’t want them to think he’s trying to be friendly with them, he’s still trying to take their captains head, yes, even after so many failed attempts. Even he knows it’s hopeless but how could he just give up like that? 

“Huh? S’ open!” A cheerful voice called from inside, Ace took a moment and pushed open the door. He could hear the little gasp of surprise from Thatch. 

“What’s up?” Thatch’s voice questioned. Ace held up the empty plate, slightly nervous now.

“The food. It was good. Thanks.” Ace could practically hear the joy coming from Thatch after hearing that. 

“Really? Was it really? Of course it was! I cooked it! Jeez, if only my other ungrateful brothers would thank me like you do! Even once would be nice ya know! It ain’t easy cooking for this many brothers! You should just become our brother already, pops likes you!” Thatch threw his arm around Ace’s shoulder. Ace shuffled back in discomfort, mainly uneasiness. Ace just handed the plate over to Thatch.

“I’m trying to take his head.” Ace pointed out, but Thatch only laughed. 

“Ha! There’s plenty of us here that tried that! Ain’t none tried as long as you have though! Pops likes that determination though!” Ace said nothing as he broke free from Thatch and headed for the door- leaving promptly. If only they knew… if only they knew all the things wrong with him, there’s no way they would want him to be part of their family. 

 

x.x.x

 

“Hey, why do you call him ‘pops’?” Ace asked, turning his head up to where Marco was standing. Marco was surprised, Ace never spoke first unless he was threatening him, but he smiled softly at his question. 

“Because he calls us his sons.” Marco answered simply as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, “To the rest of the world, we’re all just outcasts yoi. It makes us happy. It’s just a word, but, it makes us happy!” Marco grinned. Ace grit his teeth and buried his face into his knees again. Marco walked over and knelt down to where Ace was sitting. 

“Hey, how long are you gonna keep risking your life like this yoi? Make up your mind already!” Ace remained silent, still hiding his face from him.

“You can’t possibly take Pop’s head the way you are now… Are you gonna get off this ship and start over… or will you stay here, and accept Whitebeard’s mark?” There was no trickery or mockery in Marco’s voice. No lies or no attempts at deceiving Ace. And Ace knew. He knew that they genuinely wanted him to join. Some random pirate who came to take their Pop’s head, a stray. Even though they don’t know that he’s a demon that should’ve never even been born. 

“...Why…” Ace’s voice broke, “I’m just… I’m just unwanted monster…” He was trembling at this point, breath shaky and uneven. Can he really trust them? Can he dare let himself be happy here? No… it… it would probably end the moment that they find out who his father is. And his defect. Marco had no idea what made this child (yes he knew Ace was 20 but that’s still young compared to him) made him believe that, but many of his brothers also had a dark past they rather forget. 

“Monster? Please, look at Pop’s and say that again.” Marco tried to reassure him but He just shook his head. 

“My dad… he’s Gold Roger, the devil himself.” Great. Just great. He spent his life protecting that secret and only the Dadan bandits and his brothers... well, brother, knew of this secret. The secret that could potentially- ok- very much end his life. Would they even believe that? He sure as hell wouldn't believe some Pirate claiming to be the son of the Pirate King. Mainly because well, he knows they're full of bullshit because _he's_ Rogers son, sure as hell wishes he wasn't.

“Ace,” Marco spoke, and Ace got ready to fight back a moments notice, he promised Luffy he would never die, he’s not leaving him alone.

“We’re all just children of the sea. No matter our origins or pasts, we’re all just his sons to Pops. He could care less about who your parents are. If you don’t believe me, you can tell him what you just told me yourself and he’ll say the same thing I said.” Marco replied. Ace brought his head up to ‘look’ up at Marco. 

“You’re telling me to go to the strongest pirate in the world and tell him I’m the son of his greatest enemy. After trying to take his head over 100 times. Are you telling me to go on a suicide mission?” Marco snorted. 

“What, so trying to take his head over 100 times wasn’t?” He joked, but Ace only frowned. Marco sighed.

“Pop’s would never hurt one of his sons, which he already long since considered you as. Neither I, nor Pop’s- once you tell him that is- will speak a word about your father. One, because as I said, he doesn’t care about who your parents or origins are, and two, it’s something for you to choose whether or not to tell. I swear on Pop’s mark that everything I just said is true. Many of us have things we rather not have others know of. So?” Ace remained silent before he slowly stood up. 

“Fine. If I die I’ll kill you.” Ace grunted, making Marco grow a smirk. 

“Good luck killing an immortal phoenix while dead, yoi.” He chuckled, watching as the other already relaxed more or less, “But don’t worry so much, I bet he’ll just laugh at the fact you were worried so much over something he sees as pointless.” 

“Watch it pigeon, been a while since I’ve had some nice roasted bird, I just might roast you to a crisp.” Although Ace’s words were harsh, it had no real bite to it. 

“Was that a roundabout offer? Sorry, I'm not into children.” Marco snorted.

“Sorry, didn't realize you're an old man.” Ace retorted with a shit-eating smirk. 

“Oi oi, that's mean yoi. I still look young.” Marco put his hand on his hip.

“Couldn't tell.” Ace replied with a voice dripping of sarcasm. ‘Mainly because I'm blind, but he doesn't have to know that.’

“Alright alright, hurry and go you idiotic little brother, go talk to Pop's already.” Marco waved his hand with a sigh.

“Yes Grandpa.” Ace turned around and began walking off so Marco wouldn't see his smile. He made his way over to Whitebeard's room, he went there many times during his time here trying to kill him. But this time he's not going there to kill him, hopefully. Ace knocked on the large doors of Whitebeard’s room, waiting until he heard the gruff voice of Whitebeard telling him to come in. 

“Here to try to take my head again?” Whitebeard smirked as he chugged down large gulps of his sake. 

“No, I…” Ace trailed off.

“Finally accepted being one of my sons?” Whitebeard asked as he wiped off some sake that was previously dripping down the side of his lips. Ace took an unsure breath.

“My real name is Gol D. Ace. My father is the King of Pirates, Gol D. Roger.” Ace waited for Whitebeard’s reaction.

“What? Is that all you were fidgety for?” Whitebeard scoffed and took another chug of sake. Ace’s eyes widened,

“Wasn’t he your enemy?” He rose a brow. Whitebeard’s booming laughter sounded, surprising Ace. 

 

“Rival, yes. But we’re all children of the sea.” Ace bit his lip, looking off. 

“So? Are you going to finally join us, my son?” Whitebeard smiled, kind and softly much unlike the rumors about him being a monster of the sea. Ace wished he could see it. 

 

“...Yes.” Ace spoke so softly it was nothing more than a trembling whisper. 

 

x.x.x.x.

 

The past 3 months, the Whitebeard Pirates learned a lot about Ace. They found out he’s a rather cheerful, and somewhat dorky guy, it was quite easy to see that once he wasn’t constantly snarling and hissing at them to stay away back when he was trying to take Whitebeard’s head. They also found he doesn’t do well with compliments, if you praise him he sometimes turned beet red and got all fidgety. They made his freckles show more on his nicely tanned skin, Marco thought. He was also cocky and didn’t doubt his strength in battle. Somewhat reckless, but will listen to orders more or less. 

A week ago he suddenly came onto the deck without his usual open shirt and proudly showed off his new large tattoo of Pop’s mark on his back. Thatch whistled and said that it was on par with Marco’s chest mark. Ace also seemed happy, he quickly adjusted to everyone in a weeks time, acting as if he has been there for years rather than a few months(longer if you count when he was trying to kill Pops). He played pranks on Thatch and Marco—mainly Marco. And of course, Thatch always helped out Ace with pranking Marco. Sometimes, Thatch would serve Marco birdseed instead of actual human food while he served everyone else. And occasionally Marco would return to his room to see Ace and Thatch making a very poorly made nest of sorts on his bed, and once while they were docked at an island, Ace came back with a whole flock of birds and told him:

“I thought I’d help you find a lover.” Ace smirked like the little shit he was. 

 

More days passed pretty normally, occasional rookies or rising power pirates would come after them only to be quite easily defeated. A large group of the crew along with Ace, Thatch, Izou, and Marco were out on the deck. Izou was trying to convince Ace to let them dress him up in a kimono while Thatch was laughing at the scene entire scene. (Surprisingly, Ace seem too against it.) But their calm evening was put to a halt by the man on watch yelling, 

“Red-haired Shanks is heading towards us!!” Ace whipped his head towards where he heard the voice. 

“That pain in the ass… Oi! Can you tell if he’s here for a talk or just passing by, yoi?!” Marco called out. 

“H—He looks furious! I think he’s here for a battle!!” They replied frantically, even from the distance you could tell they were sweating buckets. Marco clicked his tongue.

“Everyone get into position! Prepare for possible battle!! Weaker ones go back inside!” Marco ordered and everyone immediately followed the order. Whitebeard grunted. 

“That brat… since when did he get even more foolish than he already was?” He scowled. Ace suddenly paled. 

“Ace, yoi—?”

“FUCK!!!” Ace suddenly yelled out, grabbing the attention of everyone. 

“Uh… Ace? What’s up—” 

“I FUCKING FORGOT TO CALL HIM FOR THE PAST 3 months!” Ace yelled louder, cutting off Thatch. 

“Uh… what-” 

“Red-Haired Shanks and his first mate is getting on our deck!” Another warned. Suddenly, crewmember after crewmember began collapsing, even the ones that normally withstood Shanks’ “little” greetings. This wasn’t the harmless show of strength that Shanks liked to do, he was full on furious. The ship cracked and shook with every step he took. Eventually, only the commanders on deck along with Ace and Whitebeard himself were the only one left standing. 

“Speak, brat.” Whitebeard ordered, his multiple life support machines beeping. Shanks’ glare got worse. 

“I didn’t think you were the type to do what you’ve done, I won’t forgive you, Whitebeard.” Another wave of Conqueror’s haki flooded out from Shanks, Whitebeard simply clicked his tongue and gripped his bisento, standing up. The entire sky seemed to tear apart and separate under the pressure of the two yonko's. Ace full on bolted, tripping and stumbling through the unconscious bodies of his brothers.

“Ace! Wait! You can’t possibly take on Red-Haired Shanks!” Thatch called out, bringing Marco’s attention to Ace. 

 

“What’re you doing, yoi?!” Marco cursed as his arms sprouted into flaming wings, going after Ace. 

“Shanks-san!” Ace yelled loudly, nearly falling over the rails—ok he actually fell over the bars, but Marco grabbed him with his talons so its fine—and ‘looking’ down at the lower deck where he sensed Shank’s was. Immediately, Shanks’s Conqueror’s Haki stopped and his eyes went wide, turning towards Ace hurriedly. 

“Ace!! So you’re ok?!” Shanks’ mouth soon formed into a large surprised but happy smile. Marco, along with all the other commanders, froze and turned towards Ace (who was in the air) in shock. 

“Well, other than a flaming pigeon keeping me who knows how many feet off the ground, yeah, I’m good.” Ace responded snarkily. 

“This is my thanks from saving you from falling over the rails?” Marco squinted down at Ace who only shrugged despite Marco's talons gripping his shoulders. 

“Fine, then enjoy the ground, yoi.” Marco scoffed and let go of Ace, letting him fall down. 

“I HOPE YOU DROP DEAD YOU PIGEON GEEZER!!” Ace flipped off the general area he sensed Marco was before he practically became nothing but a splatter of flames as he came in contact with the deck. It took a few moments, but he reformed into his usual normal form. 

“What a graceful landing, yoi.” Marco sneered, perching (he’ll kick you if you call it that even though that’s exactly what it is) on the upper deck's bars. 

“Why didn’t you call me at all thennnn??? I got really worried you know!” Shanks’ voice sounded like a whine and it made Ace remember why exactly he tripped over one of his brothers' unconscious bodies and was sent flying down to the lower deck. 

“I’m sorry, it completely slipped my mind.” Ace bowed apologetically. 

“Ace you _know_ Red-Haired Shanks?!” Thatch yelled down in disbelief. 

“What?! You forgot about me?!” Shanks sounded genuinely hurt by this. 

“I—what—no—” Ace sighed before deciding to just turn around and show his new tattoo to Shanks, “I… joined their crew.” he muttered, showing off the tattoo when he didn’t even know how it looked like, but he loved it all the same. 

“I see!” Shanks’ voice was full of relief and happiness, “Wait—SO I’VE BEEN REPLACED BY WHITEBEARD?!?!” He yelled. 

 

“C’mon Shanks-san! Stop being so childish!” Ace pleaded desperately, slightly embarrassed now. 

“Bennnn!!” Shanks whined, turning over to Benn who simply chewed on his cigarette and readjusted the rifle on his shoulder more comfortably, “Our little Ace has already grown up and forgotten about ussss.” 

“Can you not act like some saddened wife who doesn’t want to accept their child is growing up while on our ship yoi?” Marco hopped down onto the deck and walked up to be beside Ace. 

“How can I not? My precious little nephew has forgotten about me!” Shanks replied childishly. 

“I’m not your nephew!!” Ace hissed, cheeks burning. Oh those freckles really show nicely like that, Marco thought. 

“And he found such a strong boyfriend!” Shanks continued as if he didn’t even hear Ace. 

 

“Shanks-san, he’s literally a flaming pigeon. Why would he be my boyfriend.” Ace’s voice was deadpan. 

“Hey, wanna join my crew finally, First Division Commander?” Shanks turned to Marco.

“Shut up already, yoi.” Marco frowned. 

“Brat, stop trying to steal my sons.” Whitebeard growled, glaring at Shanks. 

“Oh right, sorry sorry.” Shanks laughed. 

“You didn’t even bring any sake.” Whitebeard continued.

“... Ah. THAT’S RIGHT I DIDN’T I CAME HERE EXPECTING WAR!” Shanks yelled as Benn simply laughed at his captain. What a great first mate. 

“I prepared sake, I expected this to happen.” Benn said.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Shanks frowned.

“I did. You weren’t listening.” Benn scoffed and turned around, heading towards their ship to retrieve the Sake.” Ace felt a slap on his back and quickly recognized the presence to be Thatch.

“So, Ace, care to explain why Shanks came here like he was planning on murdering us all and why he knows you? And why he’s acting like a damn overprotective uncle?” Thatch asked with a brow raised. Ace rubbed his neck.

 

 

“Well, it’s a long story…”


	2. Reading lessons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marco tries to teach Ace how to read and honestly? That doesn't work out too well, with Ace being blind and all. Ace finds it incredibly boring, so might as well pull some jokes while he's at it, right?

“So you’re saying that, a _yonko_ saved your little bro, sacrificed his _**arm**_ on purpose, gave him his straw hat that’s extremely important to him, all of this, for a random kid in some small village?” Thatch squinted at Ace.

“Yeah.” Ace shrugged. 

“And you, when you were a mere rookie, _searched a yonko out_ to thank him, telling him he’s that kids older brother, and he became _this_ ” Thatch signalled at Shanks, “overprotective mess who comes trying to challenge the world’s strongest just because you didn’t call him for a few months.”

“Pretty much.” 

“Hey, that’s rather rude of you.” Shanks huffed, “I got really worried, Ace never went that long without calling me, at least without notice.” 

“Sorry Shanks-san, it slipped my mind.” Ace apologized again with a small bow. 

“Gurarararara!” Whitebeard’s laughter boomed as he drank some sake that Benn had brought moments earlier, “You’ve certainly become a reckless fool, did you really think I would actually harm one of my sons?” 

“Of course not, when Ace had previously told me he was going to challenge you, I knew right away you’d probably take interest in him. But still, I got worried because he hadn’t called! I feared things might’ve gone wrong!” Shanks replied as he went up to Ace, ruffling his hair, “But I’m glad our precious little Firecracker is perfectly fine! Or else, all of us and Anchor would’ve been torn!” 

“Shanks-san please stop that…” Ace grumbled as he tried to push Shanks’ hand off. Shanks noticed some crumbs on Ace's sunglasses and chuckled, 

“Oh, you got some crumbs on your shades, did you fall asleep again?” Shanks wiped off the crumbs, gently like his sunglasses was something that’d break from the slightest of touch. Even though it wouldn’t, since Ace always wore it and it never broke before. He wouldn't let it.

“Huh? Dammit I thought I cleaned it all off.” He cursed, wiping his sunglasses in hopes of getting anything else left off. 

“Firecracker huh? That’s a great name, maybe I’ll use that from now on, yoi.” Marco smirked, suddenly joining in. 

“Smoked pigeon sounds great right now.” Ace scowled at Marco, small flames sprouting on his bare shoulders. Shanks roughly slapped Ace’s back with a laugh. 

“Alright! Since Firecracker is fine, I’ll be on my way. Sorry about knocking out your crew again Whitebeard!” Yeah he didn’t sound apologetic in the slightest. Whitebeard only grunted. 

“Leave already you brat.” Shanks laughed louder as Benn gave a slight apologetic wave, both of them leaving as if they hadn’t just nearly started a war. 

“So? Who’s this little brother of yours who a yonko is placing their bets on?” Thatch rose a brow and turned to Ace who was currently in a shoving match with Marco. 

“Huh? Oh, his name is Luffy.” Ace replied as he ceased his shoving, much to Marco’s disappointment. 

“Luffy? I feel like I’ve heard of that name before once or twice…” Thatch mumbled, then a lightbulb went off in his head, “Oh!” He turned to Izou, 

“Hey Izou! You have those from this morning still?” Izou nodded and reached into their loose kimono, pulling out a few wanted posters and handing them to Thatch. 

“Thanks.” Thatch skimmed through them before stopping at a poster of a cheerful looking teen with a straw hat, Monkey D. Luffy.

 

“This one?” Thatch showed the poster to Ace. 

No reaction. 

“Uh… Ace?” 

“Yeah?” Ace tilted his head. 

“Am I wrong?” Thatch asked. 

 

“About what?” Ace seemed genuinely confused, making Thatch himself even more confused.

“Is this not him?” 

“Is what not him?” Thatch frowned, is Ace screwing around? 

“The wanted poster of this rookie, Monkey D. Luffy. Is it not the Luffy you were talking about?” Ace lit up right after hearing that.

“What? So he already has a bounty high enough for the poster to make it here?!” Ace ran over to Thatch with a wide grin, “What’s his bounty??” 

“... 100,000,000 berri’s. Ace, I was literally showing you his poster.” Ace froze, mentally punching himself, how could he not realize that??

“I uh- Well I kinda grew up in a forest… I can’t read.” Ace _technically_ wasn’t lying. 

“Not even numbers?” Thatch rose a brow. 

“Nope, basically grew up on my own. Even had to hunt for my own food.” Ace shook his head, “But 100,000,000 berri’s, huh? Shanks-san was messing with me and only told me that Luffy got a new bounty, but wouldn’t tell me what it was. So I only knew of his 30,000,000 berri one.” 

“You couldn’t tell it was him from the picture?” Marco asked as he came to take a look at the poster as well. 

“I haven’t seen him in a few years, so he’s changed a lot.” Ace swiftly replied. Maybe he was a little too good at lying to his brothers. But he didn’t want them to find out he's blind. He wondered, what did Luffy look like now? He wished he could ask. Back then, both Sabo and Luffy tried to describe what they looked like to Ace, Luffy was absolutely horrible at it, but he was thankful all the same. Even though he didn't get their explanation since he's never seen any of the things they were describing. At times, Luffy would laugh and his presence would turn incredibly warm, soft, and loving. He always wished he could see the smile that gave his aura such a pleasant feeling. A smile that someone like Ace didn’t deserve but he still got it from both of his brothers. Well, Sabo’s was a bit different from Luffy’s. It wasn’t childish or anything like that, but it was still a pleasant aura. 

If only he could feel that aura again. 

Ace wished Shanks was still here so he could ask how different Luffy was now, he can’t ask the others how the picture looks like afterall. Marco’s hum brought Ace out of his thoughts, 

“You should learn how to read, It’d be bad if you can’t read the newspaper or even wanted posters.” Well shit. 

“Oh come on, over a thousand of us and you care if _one_ of us is illiterate?” Ace scoffed, trying not to show his discomfort from that idea. 

“I care for all of my brothers, yoi.” Marco replied. 

“What a mother hen.” Ace grumbled, Thatch snorting from that. “I’ve been perfectly fine for 20 years without knowing how to read, I think I’m good without it.” 

“No excuses, you’re learning. Sometimes we do stock counts and you need to be able to read and write the reports.” Ace groaned. Yeah he definitely wasn’t getting out of this. This was just _great._

“Fine.” 

“Good, come to my room after dinner, we’ll start today yoi.” Marco said as he turned heel and began walking away. 

“Wow, inviting me over to your room already? How daring.” Ace replied sarcastically, earning a snort from the other as they left. Oh and a whistle from Thatch. 

“Well lovebirds, have fun tonight.” Ace couldn’t see it, but he could somehow tell Thatch wiggled his eyebrows and had a pretty annoying smirk right now. 

“Marco is the only lovebird, and I don’t plan on going anyways, I’m not really interested in learning how to read.” Because he can’t even if he wanted to. 

But Ace also forgot that Marco somehow manages to find him no matter where he hides on the large ass ship and that’s totally not fair at all. Is Marco’s observation haki that good? Or is he just that easy to find? Either way, Ace let out multiple complains and grumbles as he was being dragged off into Marco’s room by Marco himself, halfheartedly struggling because he already knew there was no escape. Marco roughly tossed him inside with a grunt, shutting the door behind them. Ace frowned and stayed there on the floor. 

“Rude.” Ace rolled over to his stomach, huffing in irritation. 

“I’m the kindest person you’ll ever meet, now sit up so I can start teaching you how to read, yoi.” Ace groaned but complied, still frowning. He still had no clue how he was going to make it through this without giving himself away. Observation haki and strong hearing isn’t going to help you _read._ Ace heard a small stack of papers drop onto the desk next to him. Marco took a sheet and placed it in front of Ace, pointing to a word. 

“What does this say?” Marco asked.

“How should I know? You’re the one supposed to be teaching me.” Ace huffed as Marco dragged out a sigh. 

“Food. It says food, yoi.” 

“I rather eat food than read it.” Ace replied. 

“Well too bad, you’re going to read it.” Marco pointed to one of the characters, “This character is ‘me’, that one is ‘shi’. Remember them.” 

“Sure.” _If I could see them,_ Ace held his tongue. Ace heard another sheet be placed down in front of him. Marco pointed to various characters across the page and read them aloud.

“These are the vowels.” He dragged his hand over a row of characters, then moved onto the next row, “This is Ka, this one’s Ki…” Honestly? Ace wasn’t even paying attention. He couldn’t see any of the characters Marco was pointing to anyways. 

“...Are you paying attention, yoi?” Marco frowned.

“Yup.” Ace lied. 

“Oh really? What’s this one, then?” Marco pointed to another character.

“Te.” He guessed.

“Ace. I pointed to ‘food’ again.” 

“Close enough.” Ace shrugged. 

 

“Ace yoi, you need to learn this. You’ll eventually have to do a stock check like everyone else here.” Marco reminded with a tired sigh. 

“... If someone reads it aloud to me I can remember it.” Ace mumbled, now feeling slightly bad. 

“Do you really expect someone to read it to you everytime?” Ace bit his lip. Well great, now Ace feels like an ass. Should he just tell him? Hell he already knows about his dad so it should be fine, right? 

“I’m…”

 _’Damn devil is just deadweight! Can’t do shit bein’ blind like that, hope he hurries n’ dies in some ditch already. Can’t stand how he causes me so much trouble.’_ Dadan’s voice rang in his head. He frowned, biting his lip more. He knew Dadan always said things she didn’t really mean when she was drunk, but he knew that it was true. No matter how hard he tried, because he was blind, he was nothing but a burden and a hassle. 

Like now. 

“... just bad at remembering this stuff. Someone once tried to figure out a way to teach me but we both gave up after a few months.” Ace decided against it. He wanted them to act normally around him, not try to cater to him or look down on him. Or worse, pity him. 

 

He doesn’t deserve pity.  
Nor does he want it. 

 

“I can more or less write, not so great at complicated Kanji, though.” He added. _’I also can’t tell how messy it is or if I misspelled anything.’_ Marco rose a brow, 

“You can write but you can’t read? That doesn’t make any sense yoi. Does your brain just remember it differently? Strange, can you try writing?” Ace nodded. 

“Sure, been awhile but I should still be able to, got a pen?” Marco handed him a feather pen and placed a small bottle of ink next to Ace, “Thanks.” Ace lightly tapped his finger on the desk, trying to make it seem like a normal action. Quickly pinpointing where the bottle was at, he brought the feather over to the bottle, slightly missing the first attempt but made it look like it was because he wasn’t looking. 

“Well? What do you want me to write?” Ace turned his head up to Marco. Marco hummed, 

“How about my name, yoi?” Ace snorted. 

“Seriously? Alright.” Ace brought the pen down to the paper, humming softly as a smile formed. He imagined Sabo being there, guiding him on what strokes to write (Luffy was absolutely terrible at writing, so he never let Luffy help). He began carefully writing in the correct stroke order. He had to be careful with this one, for it was a complicated character. He counted each 13 strokes one by one as he drew it, purposely bending forward to block Marco’s view. Once he reached 13 he jokingly drew a little heart (something Luffy taught him) and grabbed the paper, handing it to Marco. 

“... Ace.” Ace smirked at Marco’s tone.

 _“This says Pigeon.”_

“Lovely, isn’t it? Look, I even drew a little heart for you darling.” Marco sighed,

“I was wondering what was taking you so long to write 3 characters.” 

“I can make it 2.” Ace replied with a snicker. 

“You’re just going to write it in hiragana aren’t you?” He narrowed his eyes at Ace who whistled. 

“Busted.” 

“I give up, I’m done, yoi.” Marco groaned, falling back onto his back.

“Aw, tired already? I can go another few rounds.” Ace purposely phrased it badly in every way possible because-

“Should I chance walking any further in or run out now before I see or hear anything that can scar me for life?” Thatch’s voice came from further behind. Ace started laughing, falling back as he heard Marco sigh. Ace already knew Thatch was there. 

“You can, Ace is just being a little shit yoi.” 

“How mean.” Ace snorted. 

“So? How did teaching Ace how to read go?” Thatch asked as he walked in. 

 

“Well, I found out he can write, but he can’t read at all.” Marco replied as he sat up to face Thatch. 

“That… makes no sense?” Thatch turned to Ace who simply shrugged, offering no explanation. 

“Well, at least we now know you aren’t completely illiterate! Now we just need to get you to learn how to read.” Maybe it would be easier if he could see the words? But nope, he can’t, “What did ya write?” Thatch turned to the paper that Ace had written on. 

“A heartfelt love letter.” Ace picked up the paper and handed it to where he sensed Thatch was.

 

“Wow. It’s beautiful.” Thatch replied, reading the word ‘Pigeon’ on it and noticing the little heart. 

“Isn’t it? Pigeon here wouldn’t appreciate its beauty. I worked so hard on it too.” Marco scoffed in the background. 

“Alright alright, give me a break already you two.” He said.

“Oh, sorry gramps, didn’t mean to tire you.” Ace grinned, standing up to leave- except he didn’t notice the feet of the table to be so close to his foot- meaning he hooked on it and he fell face first again. Is Marco some kind of curse that makes him fall more? 

“Karma.” He heard Marco and Thatch laugh at him. Assholes. Ace fixed his sunglasses and stood up, sending a frown at them. 

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, what karma could I possibly have?” 

“Plenty, yoi.” 

“What a rude pigeon.” Ace huffed. 

“Sorry, _Firecracker._ ” Ace’s face turned red, much to Marco’s amusement. 

“I- You-” Ace spluttered, “Screw you. Shanks calls me and Luffy weird names alright?” 

“Ace, your shoulders are kinda a little bit on fire.” Thatch pointed out, which made them spark up more before quickly dying out. 

“No clue what you’re talking about.” Ace denied, wearing a painfully fake pokerface.

“Sure, try not to set my room on fire yoi.” Marco was pleased to see Ace’s face flush again, showing off the others freckles. Sadly, Ace regained composure quickly. 

“Maybe I will. Maybe then you’ll learn to appreciate my wonderful love letters.” Marco scoffed. 

“Maybe if it you write it neater.” Damn. So it was messy? Pigeon is such a pain to write. 

“Ungrateful.” Ace huffed and walked out the door- this time _not_ tripping on anything. The moment he made it into one of the shared rooms that he stayed in, he crashed out and fell to the ground, making a loud thud.

 

“Huh? Oh, it’s Ace.” One of the crewmembers spoke. 

 

“Another attack?” Another peeked over their hammock. 

“Yep, out like a light.”

“Someone toss him up on his hammock.” 

“Roger~” Two pirates lazily responded, grabbing Ace and roughly tossing him- a little _too_ hard, making Ace crash into the wall as a splatter of flames, sliding down onto his hammock. Some pirates flinched. 

“Good thing he’s a logia.” 

“And that he keeps his flames from burning any unnecessary things even when he’s out cold.” 

 

Ace thoroughly beat them up in the morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Case you didn't notice, Thatch is still alive and Teach hasn't been an ass yet (the Yami Yami no Mi hasn't been found). Oh, and Ace joined later, as this is currently right after Luffy gets his 100,000,000 berri bounty(after alabasta)


	3. Futile attempts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Although 3 months had already passed and Ace had become a division commander, he still couldn't read in the slightest. And it seemed to frustrate Ace also. But Marco was determined to teach him how to read... so how the hell did this situation happen?

Although 3 more months had passed and Ace had already become a division commander, he had gotten no better at reading than the beginning. He couldn’t even remember 1-10 and the vowels. It even seemed like Ace was getting frustrated with the lessons, and tried to avoid them more often. Of course, if he were put on stock count duty, he’d do it. He’d carefully count and recount over and over and write the number down. Which was, extremely odd. Even if sometimes it seemed like he was trying to remember how to write it sometimes if the number was big. Why could he write correct numbers down, even past 100, but he couldn’t _read_ 1-10? It made no sense. If he was given recount duty, he’d ask someone to read the number it’s supposed to be and go onto counting. But Marco was determined to get Ace to learn how to read. 

“Ace yoi, reading lessons again after you’re done eating.” Marco said as he walked up to the laughing freckled male who was joking with Thatch and some other crewmates. His shoulders immediately slacked and his beautifully bright smile fell. 

“Alright.” Ace replied as he chugged down his drink, stuffing another piece of meat in his mouth soon after. Ace’s reaction made Marco feel a bit bad. But what could he do? Reading was certainly a necessary skill. But even so, the freckled boy looked much better smiling. He could never figure out why Ace would hide his eyes that were probably as beautiful as the rest of him. But everyone had their reasons, Marco decided. 

“What? You guys are still doing those lessons?” Thatch rose a brow and turned towards Marco. 

“Yeah.” Marco nodded. 

“How’s it been going?” 

“Well… same as before, yoi.” He replied, Thatch gave an understanding look. 

“Sorry about that.” Ace grumbled with a frown as he continued eating. Thatch looked over worriedly before slapping Ace’s back with a grin,

“Aw don’t worry about it Firecracker, you’ll get the hang of it eventually!” He reassured, earning a mere eye roll from Ace. 

“One, don’t call me by that cursed name if you could. Two, continue that story of yours.” He smiled a little. 

“Oh right! So then Izou said…” 

 

.x.

 

“Which one is this?” Marco pointed to a part of the paper.

“Four.” Ace replied, chin on his palm and head turned in a different direction.

“Ace.” Marco frowned. Sighing, Ace turned to the paper, “Six.” 

“Two.” Marco corrected. Ace sighed again and brought his forehead to the table. 

“Let’s try the next one.” Marco tried again. 

“Seven.” Ace grumbled, not even looking up. Marco was the one to sigh this time. 

“Ace, at this rate you’ll never learn, yoi.” Ace remained silent, “This is a skill you should know” Marco continued. Ace shuffled around but still said nothing. 

“Ace you have to _try_ -” 

“It doesn’t matter even if I _did_ try!!” Ace suddenly shot up, slamming his hands down on the table as he snarled at Marco. It was as if he reverted back to the anger and viciousness he showed back when he was trying to take Whitebeard’s head. The sudden outburst had Marco unable to say anything, “Because no matter how hard or how much I want to, I can’t-” Ace suddenly froze, previously clenched fists suddenly loosening. 

“Fuck. Sorry, Marco- that wasn’t- Sorry for snapping at you. I’ll take cleaning duty for the next month.” The freckled male groaned and sat back down, burying his face in his arms. Cleaning duty. The job everyone tried to escape from at any cost. It was horrible, with how many men there are in the Moby Dick, not to mention they’re not exactly the most dignified and sanitary people, meant it was absolutely horrible when you had to clean up the mess at the end of the day. Why wasn’t Thatch here to crack a joke or something to ease the situation? Marco was no good at this. 

“Don’t worry about it, yoi. Although I’m sure that many of our brothers will be glad to hear that offer. I knew you hated these lessons but I didn’t realize you hated it _this_ much.” Marco tried to make it sound like no big deal. Ok maybe it was because favoritism played a little in this situation but that’s not important. 

“No, it’s not your fault. It’s mine.” Ace fell back on his back, fixing his sunglasses that had tilted ever so slightly. _It’s not like I told him why I can’t read, so it’s not his fault._ Ace let out a groan, “Jeez. I like being an asshole but not _this_ kind of asshole.” 

“It wasn’t too bad, it brought back memories of when you first came onto this ship.” Marco smirked, glad the situation didn’t take a turn for the worse. Ace grunted in reply, spreading his arms out on the ground, muscular abs slowly rising and falling with his breathing. No Marco was not checking out his perfect legs- wait abs. Shut up. He wasn’t checking Ace out at all.

“Oh bite me, you’re talking as if that was ages ago.” Marco may or may not have actually wanted to. And he _may or may not_ have actually did so. And Ace _might’ve_ for whatever reason bit back. Maybe Ace took it as a challenge or something. And the two of them may or may not have continued doing so. _May or may not have_. Did he mention said bite marks looked wonderful on Ace’s bare shoulders and neck? The marks that may or may not have been there he meant. Ace’s tanned skin really looked better up close. And felt better, too. A particular bite on his neck from Ace made a pleasant shiver go down his back. Marco’s eyes trailed down to Ace’s very muscular chest (not that Marco himself wasn’t muscular). He appreciated it in his mind for a few seconds before he moved his mouth down to it. 

“Didn’t realize old geezers had this much drive in them still.” Ace’s scoff stopped Marco before his lips met the others amazingly toned chest. Marco forced his brain to process and work again like it should in the first place before he slowly stood back up. Which let Ace, who’s back was on the ground, finally sit up also. Ace rubbed the marks Marco had just made with a hum. 

“Hm. Seems you made more than I thought. Got a lil excited there, Pigeon? Haven’t gotten laid in awhile?” Ace said in a taunting tone with a shit eating grin. Marco rolled his eyes and scoffed, although, yes, he did get a little excited. Ok maybe more than a little. 

“Well, since the reading lessons for today are over, I’ll be leaving to see if I can bribe Thatch enough for him to cook up more food for me.” Ace stood up and cracked his neck, showing off the marks from his head tilts. He began heading for the door before he turned around to face Marco, “Cya, _Sensei._ ” He snickered and left, giving a playful smirk that made Marco forget how to breathe for a good 5 seconds. Then Marco’s brain finally got to working again. Which made him realize- _Oh fuck. Ace doesn’t even wear a damn shirt._

And Marco wears a shirt, but he just leaves it full on open. Yeah that’s gonna do a great job hiding it. Suddenly buttoning it up after all these years would just be suspicious. Great. He’ll never hear the end of it from Thatch. 

 

_He really didn’t hear the end of it from everyone. Ace did a great job purposely making it worse._

 

x.x.x

2 weeks later and Ace’s little brother got a newer and even _higher_ bounty. But that was no surprise, since he’s Ace’s brother, he’s no doubt great at fucking with the government. Ace practically beamed and ran over when he heard about it. That large smile and excited voice as he tried to confirm if it was true was undoubtedly adorable. So adorable that Marco had to stop himself from cooing because Thatch and Izo were both behind him and both giving him a smirk, silently teasing him. Thatch was more obvious about it as he came up and hooked his arm around Marco’s neck. 

“Hmmmm~ Oh wow, it sure is bright outside today huh?” Thatch said as he shaded his eyes, despite the actual sun being _behind_ them. What he was shading his eyes from was Ace who Marco cannot deny was shining rather brightly. 

“Marco! Thatch! Look look!” Ace came running up to them both and shoved a paper in their faces with a wide grin, “Luffy got a new bounty!” 

“Ace. It’s backward.” Marco told him, no Marco definitely didn’t find it adorable in the slightest. Not even when Ace blushed for a second and turned it around, showing them an incredibly wrinkled wanted poster. Ace probably got too excited and crushed it too much. Definitely not cute. 

“300,000,000 berri’s huh? He’s rising rather fast.” Thatch said, cutting off Marco’s stare-at-Ace-and-forget-how-to-think moment. 

“Right? I heard he has a crew now, and they have bounties!” Ace exclaimed, practically bouncing. Nope. No. Not cute. Not cute at all, Marco repeated. Vista came walking up to the two. 

“Hey, there’s an island about half an hour away from here. We’re running low on certain spice stock, so if you and Ace could go there, that’d be great.” He said as he handed a sheet of paper with said spice names. Marco turned around to Thatch who was now backing away, standing next to Izou whose mouth was hidden behind their Japanese wooden fan, letting out a fake cough. Great, now both of them are against him. He’s throwing Thatch overboard later.

“Sure. I’ll take Striker and Marco will fly as usual. I’m ready anytime.” Ace easily agreed. Marco sighed but agreed also. 

 

“So am I, I suppose I’ll just grab a bag to carry the spices and we’ll depart after.” Marco turned heel and headed for his quarters. 

 

.x.

 

“So where are we to find these spices?” Ace asked as he turned to Marco.

“No clue. Suppose we can ask around.” Marco shrugged.

“I guess that’s tr-” Ace walked face first into a sign for a street stand. He cursed at himself then sensed the owner staring at him in shock.

“Ah. Please excuse me for startling you.” Ace spoke politely as he did a deep bow before he reached into his pocket, “Here is for any damage or disturbance I might’ve caused.” He smiled, flicking a golden coin at the owner. He began walking, Marco soon following. 

“Didn’t know you could be polite.” Marco rose a brow.

“How rude. I’m _always_ polite.” Marco snorted at that.

“Really now?” 

“Joking. But I can be polite to you all if you want, but I’m usually only polite to strangers. That I’m not trying to kill. Or at least the ones where I’m not being a little shit with.” Ace replied with a shrug. Marco hummed,

“Nah. Wouldn’t be so interesting.” Ace smirked,

“See? It’s way better like-” 

“The monkeys in the forest laugh~” A smooth voice sang as they passed by. Ace's eyes widened as he turned to where he heard the voice, frozen in place,

“The crocodile ate me ‘cause it's an idiot so I beat its ass~” They hummed again, slowly walking in a luxurious pace. The sound of boots tapping with every step came from the smooth silk-like voice. 

“Ace yoi?” Marco stopped and turned around to look at the frozen Ace.

“Ah, you're singing that stupid song again!” A female voice sounded besides the one who was singing. 

“Oh. You're right. I didn't notice.” The smooth voice replied, stopping in his tracks. 

“Really, where did you learn such a stupid song?” The female voice huffed and the other one only chuckled.

“Who knows? Me, maybe?” They suggested, seemingly unsure himself. Ace took a sharp inhale as he focused entirely on sensing that one presence with the silky voice. It was cloudy, a bit different than what he remembered, but it still had hints of the presence he so closely knew. One he thought was gone forever. 

“What's wrong?” Marco's voice sounded again, but Ace wasn't listening to him. Ace ran over to the presence and grabbed their wrist, seemingly surprising them. 

“... Can I help you?” The smooth voice asked, on guard. Their presence felt more violent rather than relaxed like before.

“...Sabo?” Ace asked, voice full of desperate hope and fear. Fear of him being wrong. Fear of him getting his hopes up over nothing. The other tore their hand away. 

“Can I know why you know my name?” Ace heard the sound of metal touching the cement. The sound of a metal pipe, he knows that sounds all too well, “You won't answer? Guess we'll have to do this the hard way.” Ace could sense the other swing his pipe at him, Ace barely managed to dodge. But that's not what's important. What's important is, is that he's right. And this asshole is acting like he doesn't remember him! Or did he really forget about him? After everything they've been through?! They swore they'd always be brothers, that asshole!! The other presence prepared for another attack but Ace had a little something to say to him.

“Sabo you lying bastard!!” Ace yelled, making the other freeze in confusion. He punched the other right smack in the face, sending Sabo flying a good distance back. 

“Sabo-kun!” The female voice yelled before darting towards Ace, her punch blocked by Marco who dashed in front of him. He whistled. 

“Well Ace, that was one hell of a bitch slap, yoi.” He turned over to Ace and ignored the girl struggling to break her first free from his grip. It was actually pretty difficult, Marco realized. This girl's got some fearful strength. 

“I agree,” The smooth voice seemed amused, “I see you've gotten better at throwing a punch, Ace.” They smirked, standing up. 

“I see you've gotten better at acting like a complete asshole, Sabo! Acting like you didn't even remember me!!” Ace yelled furiously, stomping towards Sabo as small flames danced on his skin. 

“Well, that's certainly an achievement if I'm hearing that from you of all people.” Sabo replied in a seemingly calm matter. 

“Ok, so I tried to kill you when we first met, but that's in the past!” Ace's flames grew stronger. 

“So, is that guy some kinda lying cheating ex of yours or something, yoi?” Marco was half joking as he asked, only half because it did seem like an awfully cliché scene with Ace as the angry girlfriend. Well at least he didn't have to hold back the girl anymore as she seemed just about as surprised as he was.

“Oh yes most certainly. Ace my love, please forgive me, I was wrong. I've missed you all these years darling, can I return to my one true love?” Sabo took off his top hat and brought it to his chest, bowing. Ace's right shoulder completely turned into raging flames as he shot fire at Sabo who dodged from the blast. 

“Quit the bullshit Sabo!!! Luffy cried!! _**I**_ cried!!” Ace's chest puffed in and out, quickly as he took heavy breaths, angry flames licking along his body. 

“...I had amnesia.” Sabo replied, making Ace scrunch his brows in confusion, “I literally just regained my memories after you gave me that friendly hello.” Ace's flames slowly died out as he attempted to take in all of this, was Sabo telling the truth? Amnesia? 

“I can explain more if you'd like, but maybe here isn't the best place for that?” Sabo turned to all the new onlookers. 

“Isn't that Second Division Commander Firefist Ace and the First Division Commander Marco the Phoenix?!” One yelled.

“Should we call the Marines?”

“Don't be a fool! They're Whitebeard pirates! Commanders no less! 

“Are they starting a fight? We need to run!” 

Ace grunted as he now acknowledged the small crowd of people. He sent out a small wave of Conqueror's Haki, enough to knock out the crowd. One by one, the fodder onlookers mouths foamed and eyes turned white, each falling to the ground. 

“There. Problem solved.” Ace turned back to Sabo who whistled. 

“Didn't know you had Conqueror's Haki, Ace.” Sabo said.

“It's not as strong as Luffy's, although I'm sure he doesn't even know how to use it since he's still in Paradise. He should learn haki already since he's planning on coming to the New World.” Ace replied. 

“Luffy has Conqueror's Haki? What a surprise. If I remember correctly… his bounty is 300,000,000 berri's?” Ace nodded.

“Yeah, it’s high for Paradise.” Ace replied and felt Marco lean on his shoulder. 

“So, Ace yoi, care to introduce me to this ex of yours?” Marco asked teasingly. 

“Oh babe you found another?” The female from earlier hit Sabo on the back of his head, much to Ace’s appreciation. 

“Why would I be dating this flaming chicken? I'm not interested in old geezers.” Ace rolled his eyes and pushed Marco off of him. 

“That's rude yoi, I still look young.” Marco faked a hurt voice. 

“Can't tell.” Ace grunted.

“Maybe if you took off those shades of yours for once you could. No wonder you're always tripping and walking into things, yoi.” Sabo frowned and opened his mouth, but Ace cut him off, already guessing that Sabo was going to say something.

“ _Anyways,_ Sabo isn't my ex, thankfully.” Ace ignored Sabo's 'wow so rude’, “He's my brother, one I thought who died years ago.” The female's jaw dropped, not that Ace could see that. 

“You're his WHAT?!” She screamed, making Ace flinch and cover his now painful ears, sadly a moment's too late. 

“Yup, that's me.” Sabo tipped his hat. 

“He's also grown into a little shit.” Ace added.

“Wow, just like you.” Marco scoffed, Ace only grunted and Sabo smirked, “So is the 3rd one also a little shit?” 

“No, Luffy's just an idiot.” Both Ace and Sabo immediately replied at the same time. Marco snorted.

“What a unique trio of brothers. Anymore unknown brothers I should know of?” 

“What you already know my father, do you want my entire damn family tree also?” Ace scoffed and waved his hand. Sabo's eyes went wide.

“Ace, you told him that?” Sabo all but whispered. Ace shrugged.

“Just him and Pops, but I decided not to hide it from my family. If they ask who my parents are, I'll tell em. But otherwise I'm not gonna say, don't wanna make it seem like I'm bragging or something, ya know?” Ace replied nonchalantly, making Sabo's jaw drop.

“Holy shit, what happened to my angry angsty brother who tried to murder me on our first encounter?” He gaped.

“Oh bite me, I was 10.” You could almost see Ace roll his eyes despite not actually being able to see them.

“He tried to kill us too when we first met yoi.” Marco chimed in.

“Oh really?” 

“Yeah about 100 times, a few attempts everyday.” Marco nodded.

“Oh good, at least that hasn't changed. If it was 100 days then that beats Luffy's record, it took 3 months straight to get this stubborn idiot to just accept Luffy's existence. Ace tends to become family with people after trying to kill them for awhile.” Sabo snorted.

“It was great family bonding time.” Marco joked with a sneer.

_“To answer your question Marco,”_ Ace cut into the conversation of his brothers insulting him as if he wasn't even there. He was _blind_ not _deaf_ dammit, “no I don't, just this little shit who I thought was quite honestly very much dead, and Luffy.” Ace replied.

“Whom he loves and is unbelievably protective of because he has an extreme brother complex that he never admitted to because he was a damn tsundere. I can only fear that more with his flame ability.” Sabo added.

“... Thanks for your input, Sabo.” Ace growled.

“No problem, Ace.” Even though Ace can't see, he could tell there was a shit-eating grin on Sabo's face that made him want to give him another punch. 

“By the way… you're in the New World yet I haven't heard of any wanted posters or newspaper articles for you. Then again I can’t exactly read them.” Ace decided to postpone trying to beat the shit out of Sabo for later.

“Ah… I didn't become a pirate.” Sabo replied.

“Huh? You didn't? Oh right, your dream was freedom, not necessarily being a pirate.” Ace said.

“Yeah and I pretty much have that, way more than that rotten place of course. I'm the no.2 of the Revolutionary Army now instead.” Sabo replied with a small bittersweet smile, the bitterness coming from the memories of Goa Kingdom that he now remembers.

“I see, you're the no.2 of the Revolutionary Army…” Ace sighed, then suddenly processed the information he just heard, “... Wait... YOU'RE THE NO.2 OF THE REVOLUTIONARY-” Sabo's hand slapped over Ace's mouth.

“Yes, that's what I just said, Second Division Commander Firefist Ace-san,” Sabo lowly growled.

“Ain't that a mouthful.” Marco mumbled.

“And I'd _really_ appreciate it if you didn't yell that out for the world to know I'm here. While its numbers are few, people _do_ know who I am and what I look like.” Sabo continued, glaring at Ace despite knowing that he can't see it. But what he did know was that Ace could tell from his presence that he was glaring. Or at least not very happy. Ace huffed through his nose and pushed Sabo's hand away.

“Right right, sorry Mr. super secret spy.” He said sarcastically. 

“If I have Marines chasing me later I'm blaming you.” Sabo grunted.

“Yeah yeah. I see Luffy's dad kidnapped Gramps's wrong Grandkid.” Ace scoffed.

“Ah well, you know, even Dragon-san can make mistakes. Or maybe it was a miracle? Luffy would definitely _not_ be good for the Revolutionary Army. Or you.” Sabo smirked at Ace's glare (he could always tell when he was being glared at by Ace despite the shades). 

“Alright so, we have: No.2 of the Revolutionary Army,” Marco gestured to Sabo.

“Yup.” He tipped his hat.

“Second Division Commander Firefist Ace,” Marco turned to Ace.

“That's me.” Ace huffed.

“and then, apparently, the son of the leader of the Revolutionary Army.” Marco turned to them both.

“Who's also a complete idiot.” They both added.

“Who's also a complete idiot.” Marco repeated. 

“That's us, feel free to call us the monster brother's.” Sabo bowed at Marco.

“I just might. So how's this other brother like?” Maroc quirked a brow.

“... He'd prolly declare he'd be the Pirate King to Whitebeard completely serious and believe it.” Ace replied.

“So, like you.” Marco said.

“No no, I said I'd take his _head_ and kill him. Not be the Pirate King. But the moment I saw him I knew I couldn't really do that. Still tried anyways.” Ace shrugged. 

“Ah yeah, you're stupidly stubborn like that. Surprised that you're not dead yet with how many times you do that.” Sabo scoffed, earning a grunt from Ace.

“I survived Bluejam, I could survive that.” Ace replied. 

“Ace, dude, Bluejam was like, 10,000,000 berri’s.” 

_”Shut up I was 10.”_ He growled but Sabo only snickered. 

“Right, by the way,” Ace pointed to the female presence, “... You gonna do anything about her?” Sabo blinked before gasping and turning to the girl, forgetting she was even with him. He flinched when he saw her cheeks puffed out and red, tears at the corner of her eyes and threatening to fall, trembling with a frown. 

“Ah…” Sabo began to sweat at the wrath he was about to receive, “I'm really sorry, Koala-” But alas, it was hopeless as she began punching him repeatedly with her monstrous strength. 

“Sabo-kun you jerk!! You completely forgot that I even exist!” She yelled, punching harder.

“Ow- Ow-Koala- look I'm sorry- ow fuck- Koala please-” Sabo grit his teeth as he stood there and took her punches.

“'Sorry’ my ass!! You completely ignored me! Do you know how worried I was?! You suddenly got punched and got sent flying, _you_ , I've never seen that happen since your battles with Kuma-san! I was so worried yet you ignore my very existence!!” Her voice was just sobs as she punched more.

“Ok I didn't get sent as far as Kuma-san would send me-” Sabo grunted as he received a particularly painful punch to the gut, an actual punch that wasn't just her crying angry punches, “Ok ok! I'm sorry! I kinda just got carried away after finally remembering everything I spent _years_ trying to remember before finally giving up because I thought it was hopeless! Not to mention, said person I forgot is right here!” Koala stopped her flurry of punches but puffed out her cheeks more, angry tears staining them. But then her angry expression just turned into a sad but relieved expression as she full on tackled Sabo to the ground, him grunting when his back painfully met the ground. 

“I know and I'm happy but I'm also angry because I could've walked away and you wouldn't have even noticed! I was so worried but I'm happy but I also really hate you right now!!” Koala sobbed into Sabo's chest, clinging onto him. 

“Seems you found a wonderful girlfriend, Sabo.” Ace joked, giving him a sneer. 

“It's not like that, she's in the Revolutionary Army like me and we usually the up as partners in missions- hey c'mon stop crying, I'm sorry ok?” Sabo sighed, running his hand through Koala's hair. 

“You sure seem a lot more than ‘partners’.” Ace scoffed, signaling to them both.

“Oh please,” Sabo rolled his eyes while still comforting Koala, “I don't want to hear that from _you_.” He nodded at them.

“And what do you mean by that?” Ace scowled at him.

“What I mean is, I think you and the Phoenix look to be a little more closer than just fellow Division Commanders.” He smirked. 

“And _I_ think you're the blind one, not me.” Ace growled. 

“What?” Marco suddenly joined in, surprise evident on his face. Ace froze. Fuck, he totally forgot Marco was still there.

“Oh, it's a joke from when we were kids.” Ace lied through his teeth, oh good, he was still a good liar, “I used to walk into and trip on everything a lot back then since I would stare off into space more than now… and well, hell of a lot more clumsy than now. Shamefully so. Even when something was right in front of me, I wouldn't realize till I walked right into it.” Wow, even managed to spin up a story. Ace congratulated himself despite the tight pang in his chest from lying to one of his brothers. But he had to, if he wanted everything to be the same.

“Luffy always found it quite amusing.” Sabo wasn't particularly lying, Luffy did laugh when Ace sometimes tripped. 

“Thanks for reminding me.” Ace sighed.

“Sounds like a great little brother.” Marco replied sarcastically.

“Yes, he is, and no one's allowed to insult him but us.” Ace snarled at Marco who soon just grinned in amusement.

“Wow you’re right, he _does_ have a brother complex.” Marco grinned. 

“Yes, he does, now Koala, mind getting off of me so I can get off the ground?” No reply, “... Koal- aaaand she's asleep.” Sabo sighed tiredly. 

“Cute girlfriend you got there.” Ace snorted as he watched Sabo gently pick her up and hold her bridal style.

“If you like her so much you can have her.” Sabo rolled his eyes. 

“Nah, I'm good.” Ace replied.

“Oh right, you're more into Phoenix's. Judging from those bite marks that both of you have. You sure love to flaunt, huh?” Ace brought his hand up to the general areas the marks were, 

“Oh. Thought they faded already since I didn’t feel anything anymore. Guess I was wrong.” He nonchalantly shrugged. Marco also thought the marks didn’t seem that noticeable anymore since the crew stopped making comments on it. Maybe they just got bored of it instead. 

“So, how's Luffy doing?” Sabo turned to Ace, already dropping the bite mark case to ask about their little brother he hadn’t seen in so many years. That he hadn’t remembered about in so long. 

“Honestly? No clue. Haven't seen him since I set sail when I turned 17. Luffy set sail at 17 also.” Ace replied.

“Surprised the extreme Luffy complex Ace had it in him to not worry himself sick when he left him alone, or you did that too much already? Anywho, he's in Paradise, right?” Sabo asked.

“Yeah, why?” Ace decided to ignore Sabo's previous comments for the sake of the town they're in, can't have it burning down after all.

“How about we go pay him a surprise visit, as his older brothers?” Sabo smirked. Ace could tell Sabo was planning something from the tone of his voice, whatever the hell it was, It wasn't a good plan that's for sure. 

“... You don't mean a normal, nice, brotherly meet up, do you?” Ace squinted at Sabo, despite not being able to see. Sabo's smirk grew.

“Oh no, I mean I go there and completely destroy his crew in the blink of an eye right in front of him whilst you join in later, _then_ we can have a nice brotherly bonding time.” Now Sabo's smile was awfully kind looking, but what he was saying was anything but that.

“So you're telling me,” Ace began, “to watch as you completely destroy our little brother's crew right in front of him, and crush any ideas of them being strong.” Sabo hummed.

“Alright then,” Ace's grin looked almost identical to Sabo's earlier one, “let's go give our little brother a nice slap of reality, just like old times, before he gets one the hard way.” 

“Exactly what I wanted to hear.” Sabo replied.

 

“...I feel bad for your little brother, yoi.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At this point, I'm bouta say fuck Teach. Ok yeah fuck him. Teach doesn't exist. He's not here and won't destroy Ace's happy place alright. That bih gone. Gone I say. And the timeline is a mess, but that's fine. Perfectly fine. 
> 
> Lu is about to get some brotherly love.
> 
> Oh and the song Sabo was singing was one of Luffy's made up songs


	4. WHAT?!?!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A sudden visitor on the Merry Go?! Who's this top hat wearing asshole and why is he so strong- oh it's Sabo.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  ~~This is after Sky Island but before Water 7, so no Franky and still using the Merry Go.~~  
>     
>  **EDIT 28/2/19:** THIS IS NOW RIGHT AFTER WATER 7, SO RIGHT AFTER THEY GET THE SUNNY GO AND FRANKY. THEY ALL HAVE BOUNTIES NOW AND LUFFY'S CURRENT BOUNTY IS 300 MILLION

“So bored… nothing's happened at all recently… can something interesting happen already?” Usopp let out a long sigh. Even the fish were being boring! He hasn't gotten a single bite! Poor Chopper was also losing hope and growing bored of hopeless fishing. They didn't really need the fish, they had plenty of food at the moment. They both just _really_ wanted something fun to do. Usopp wondered if he should just spin up some grand tale….

“Maybe some strong opponents will appear for us then.” Zoro grunted. Usopp and Chopper both shrieked and ran over to grab at the swordsman.

“Don't jinx us you idiot! I don't want nothing bad to happen!!” 

“Yeah yeah! Stupid Marimo!” Chopper nodded alongside Usopp.

“Marimo Idiot!” 

“Stupid Marimo!!” 

Zoro clicked his tongue and gritted his teeth, refraining from punching the two as they continued to taunt him, “So annoying… didn't you say you wanted something interesting to happen?” 

“Yeah but- not anything bad! Or dangerous!! Just- something not boring but not dangerous or scary.” Usopp nodded firmly, praising himself for such a wonderful explanation.

“Just what exactly are you wanting to happen out here at sea that's _not_ dangerous?” The swordsman sweatdropped, “Well in my case, I want some strong opponents to appear, I don't want to get rusty.” 

“For once, I agree with the Marimo—HERE ROBIN-CHWAN~ NAMI-SWAAA~N! YOUR DRINKS~! I MADE SURE THEY WERE PERFECT~ PLEASE ENJOY~~” Sanji did a disgusting twirl and squiggle, placing Nami's and Robin's drinks down with a heart eye, “—recently nothing has been happening since we left that previous island to restock a few days ago. Of course, peace is nice every once in awhile but it's not something I would want to get too used to, considering we're pirates and all.” 

“W-Well that's true…” Usopp mumbled.

“I'm bored I'm boredddd! I wanna fight or go on an adventure!!” Luffy, their very mature captain whined from atop the Sunny Go's figurehead. Was he throwing a fit? Yes he was.

“Perhaps I could be of help then?” A new voice spoke, and everyone immediately broke into a defensive stance, turning to face the intruder. They were met with a top hat wearing male, golden locks weightlessly swaying with the breeze. A long metal pipe was strapped to their back, and they wore what _seemed_ to be a friendly smile. But their eyes screamed danger to everyone on board.

“Who're you?!” Zoro yelled, a hand on his still sheathed swords, on edge. The stranger stood up and smiled at Zoro. Zoro blinked once. 

And now the figure was standing before Zoro. 

 

Zoro didn't even even have time to _gasp_ as he was given an air robbing knee to his gut, being knocked back and pinned down split seconds after. Black dots filled Zoro's vision as he forced himself to glare up at the other. When he attempted to reach for his sword, the other grabbed his wrist and pinned that down above his head as well. Despite his best attempts, Zoro couldn't break free. Another hand, shaped as a weird “claw” shape, appeared inches in front of his face.

“Hey, did you know? These claws…can crush skulls like eggs.” They grinned ear to ear, but it was far from a pleasant grin. 

“I won't let you!!” Sanji swung a downwards kick full force onto the other, yet his ankle was easily snagged by the their “claw”.

“Hm. Not bad. Too much wasted movement, though.” They hummed, calmly, almost as if he didn't even see this as a battle. Sanji frowned in annoyance and tried to pull his leg away to try to land another blow,

“Ha? What're you-” Sanji's eyes shot open, “FUCK!! FUCK FUCK _FUCK!!_ LET GO! LET GO YOU BASTARD!!!” Sanji cried out, gripping and clawing at his leg and the others wrists. His other leg gave out, screams dying midway as a string of curses escaped instead. 

“SANJI!!” “Sanji-kun!” Chopper and Nami both cried out.

“Hm? What's wrong? It's not like I'm breaking it, I'm barely squeezing it, you know.” They taunted with that same smile. Zoro clicked his tongue and struggled harder. If only he could reach his sword-

“JET PISTOL!!!” The figure let go and hopped off of Zoro to dodge, top hat falling in the process.

“Huh. Pistol again? And you actually managed to punch in a straight line, good job!” They laughed, it was oddly… real. Happy. 

“JET GATLING!!” A flurry of fists appeared but yet each and every one of them grazed past the figure, not a single one connecting.

“Hmm… I get it. You increased your blood flow in your entire body to make yourself faster and stronger, almost like doping. Since you're made out of rubber it looks like your organs can take the stress easier, but that technique definitely can't be good for your body in the long run. You should practice it more to just use it on certain parts of your body so it doesn't cause as much stress.” They went on calmly as they easily dodged every strike, in fact they picked up their top hat and placed it on at the same time. Franky ran down from the steering wheel to ask what was going on, freezing when he saw Luffy trying and failing to attack this stranger.

“Why can't I hit him?!” Luffy panted out and stopped punching. Luffy's breath was already ragged and short, sweat beading down his temple. 

“Oi Straw Hat! What's going on? Who's this?!” Franky ran up beside Luffy and got into battle stance, “Sunny isn't hurt, right?!” He yelled. Luffy shook his head, still attempting to catch his breath. He really wasn't in his greatest shape to be using this skill again. The figure simply hummed and adjusted their hat with a not-so-insane smile. Again, it was oddly soft, and, well, _real._

“You've improved so much from when you would miss every punch or end up hitting yourself… and you found such strong friends, I'm so happy.” That happy and soft smile turned into a grin that was eerily similar to the one they showed Zoro. Hands forming that “claw” shape again, they were in front of Luffy in the blink of an eye, “But it's not enough.” 

“Dos Fleur!” Two pairs of arms bloomed from the ground and on the blondes back. One pair stopped the hand from reaching Luffy and another stopped him from moving. The blonde simply blinked and observed the arms holding him back. 

“Thanks, Robin!” Luffy quickly jumped back and away from the figure who slowly turned to Robin, 

“What an interesting devil fruit. Nico Robin, right? We looked everywhere for you for years, you're real hard to track, you know?” The grip got tighter on the figure. 

“Who the hell are you?!” Sanji snarled at the stranger, leaning on his uninjured leg despite his best attempts to seem fine and uninjured.

“Hm?” The figure turned to Sanji and began walking with ease despite Robin's grip. More arms bloomed and grabbed the others legs to no avail as the figure smoothly strided over to Sanji with a smile. 

“Sorry…” Robin grit out as she trembled, “I can't hold him back-” With a flinch, all the arms disappeared, leaving Robin with heavy breaths. The figure stood in front of Sanji and examined him with another hum.

“Black Foot Sanji, huh?” 

“Ah? What about it?” Sanji growled, giving him a glare.

“No nothing, I just didn't expect to see a Vinsmo-” A lightning fast kick was sent to the figure and cut them off. They quickly blocked it with a shit eating smirk as they looked at Sanji's expression.

Sanji snarled as if he was out for blood, “I'll ask you again, **who the hell are you?** ” He growled lowly. His leg may have been caught again but to hell with it. 

“What a scary expression…” Was their answer. Sanji's glare worsened. They let Sanji's leg go only to instead grab his face.

“SANJI!!” Luffy, Chopper, Usopp, and Nami yelled out. 

“What the fuck-?! Let me go!” Sanji was lifted off the ground with one arm like scraped paper. Between the gap of the other's 'claw’, he saw the others eyes glint dangerously.

“Maybe I'll crush your skull first. Nice and slowly.” Sanji screamed out as the other only hummed a little tune, ignoring Sanji's kicking and flailing. 

“EXPLODING STAR! EXPLODING STAR! EXPLODING STAR!” Usopp shot exploding star after exploding star but each seemed to not affect the other in the slightest, “Dammit!! Exploding star! EXPLODING STAR!!!” Sanji's cries got louder as Luffy stormed to the figure with his armed pulled back for a punch. 

“LET SANJI GO!!” Luffy demanded, Zoro next to him with all three swords and a bloodthirsty glare. 

“Roronoa Zoro…” They let Sanji drop to the floor like a kid would when they lost interest in a old toy and found something more interesting. He dodged Luffy's punch and grabbed both of Zoro's swords in a way that didn't let the third one reach him. Zoro's eyes widened when he realized he couldn't even step back, unless he let go of his swords. Which, of course, he would never do.

“Hm, I can't say much since I'm not a swordsman, but it looks like your swings are a little too wide, you'll easily get stabbed in your chest like that you know?” Zoro flinched as the memory of being stabbed in the chest by Mihawk came into his mind. 

“No way… everyone is fighting him yet we're completely helpless… who is he..?” Nami paled and took a few steps back in fear, Chopper doing the same as he hid behind Nami.

“I'm scared… Everyone…” The poor little reindeer sniffled, but yet still forced himself to remain standing.

“I may be wrong… but I think he's the no.2 of the Revolutionary Army…” Robin frowned, rubbing at her sore arms. 

“What?! You mean the organization ran by L—the most wanted man in the world?!” Nami yelped.

“Oh, you know a lot.” The blonde said, letting Zoro go and jumping back. 

“So I was right? What does the Revolutionary Army want with us? Or do you want something with me?” Robin carefully eyed the man. 

“No, I'm here for personal reasons, it has nothing to do with the Revolutionary Army.” They answered. Everyone kept a close eye on the stranger, attempting an attack would be foolish, but they would should anyone be threatened. Robin swallowed thickly, 

“And what is your reason?” She carefully asked, arms already in position.

“I came to see how strong you all are, particularly Luffy. But, well, you're all too weak. You won't even make it to the New World, you'll be completely wiped out.” They took a few slow steps towards Robin, pushing their top hat down and shadowing their eyes, “So I decided… that I'll just kill you all right here.” 

“Gum gum..!”

“Special skill..!” 

“Arm point!”

“STRRRRONNNG..!”

“36 pound-!”

“Jeez, you're terrifyingly good at playing the villain role.” A new voice sounded. Everyone whipped their heads to the new voice to see yet another unknown grinning figure. Muscular black haired male with feckless, alongside a giant blue bird with—

“That's..! That bird is not a normal bird! It has the Whitebeard’s mark! The strongest pirate crew in the world!” Zoro immediately warned the moment his eyes fell on the mark on the bird's chest.

“What?!” Nami screeched, Usopp and Chopper joining in. 

“He's right, that mark is definitely the Whitebeards.” Robin confirmed, eyes darting worriedly to the three new guests. Although it seemed like the Revolutionary didn't plan on attacking anymore, they shouldn't let their guards down unless they wanted to die. 

“This is just great… fuck my head hurts.” Sanji grumbled as he forced himself to stand up. 

“What are we going to-” 

“Ace? Is that you, Ace?” Luffy's voice drew the crew's attention. Ace smiled softly and hopped down to the lower deck with the bird following.

“Yeah. It's been awhile, Luffy. I can sense that you've gotten a lot stronger since the last I've seen you.” Luffy lit up as an all too wide smile formed,

“Ace!!” He beamed, “Just give me a second to defeat this napkin wearing jerk and we can talk!” Ace burst out laughing as the other one seemed to… pout? 

“That's right that's right! He's a napkin wearing asshole ain't he?” Ace snorted much to everyone's confusion. 

“I'm right here you know.” They frowned and crossed their arms with a huff. 

“Ace? Do you know them?” Luffy tilted his head.

“You know, it kinda sucks that I don't have the right to say 'What? Did you forget about me?’.” The blonde sighed and walked over to Ace and Luffy, ignoring everyone's drilling eyes on him. 

“Damn right you don't, asshole.” Ace punched their shoulder. 

“That mark on your back… you're a Whitebeard Pirate? Is that bird your pet or something?” Zoro eyed the bird. Ace snorted again and jumped down to where the bird was at, nuzzling into the flaming bird,

“Yeah totally. This is my absolutely adorable pigeon Mar- don't peck me!” And now… he started fighting with a bird. A. Bird. 

“What a cool bird!!! It's on fire!! Amazing!!!” Luffy ran over to the bird with sparkling eyes. The large bird cooed and let Luffy feel it's flames, “Ohhh!!! It doesn't feel hot at all! It feels kinda cool actually!” 

“Suddenly you became the favorite…” The blonde one grumbled. 

“I've _always_ been the favorite, excuse you.” Ace replied in a matter of fact tone. 

“I'm sorry? Who was the one who tried to kill Luffy for three months straight?” They glared at Ace. Wait, what? The entire crew turned to glare at the new freckled “guest”.

“W-Well he's alive now isn't he? That's all that matters. Also you tried to kill him once too!” Ace retorted.

“That was once! And you were in on it too so don't start!” They both started bickering, arguing back and forth on who was ‘the favorite’. Whatever that meant, no one in the crew knew. 

“Who're you?” Luffy's voice dragged them out of their argument. They turned to Luffy who was seemingly trying to stare into the blonde one's soul, “You remind me of him, why?” 

“Luffy? Do you know these two?” Nami asked as she carefully stepped closer while keeping her eyes on the blonde one. Luffy shook his head. 

“No, I only know Ace-” 

“Indeed he does know us both.” Ace slung an arm over the blonde one's shoulder who seemed to now be shy for whatever reason.

“Luffy, the reason why he reminds you of _him_ is because it _is_ him. Say hello to Sabo, your second older brother.” He smirked. 

“Yo, Luffy…” The smile Sabo gave to Luffy was sheepish and nervous, the complete opposite of most of the smiles he had previously shown earlier. Everyone's jaws dropped and all but Luffy yelled “WHAT?!?!” 

“Older brother?! You have an older brother, Luffy?!” Nami shrieked out. 

“While it's not too odd for him to have an older brother, I would've never thought it would be the no.2 of the Revolutionary Army…” Robin mused. 

“Ace? What're you saying? Didn't Sabo die?” Luffy said as he slowly turned from Ace to Sabo and back to Ace. The crew hushed down immediately. 

“Well, that's supposedly what happened. But what _actually_ happened is that Sabo's boss saved him when his raft was blown up. But he ended up getting amnesia and forgot about everything, even his his name! He just went by Sabo cause it was written on some of his stuff. So then he joined the Revolutionary Army and grew up like that, but I happened to see him a while ago, punched his face and made him remember everything, and, well, here we are now!” He snickered and slapped Sabo's back with force that made him stumble forward. Luffy remained silent for a few moments as he stared up at Ace.

“So then that's Sabo?”

“Yup.”

“He's alive?” 

“That's right.”

“You're not lying?” 

“I'm serious Luffy! This is Sabo, real and alive in all his napkin wearing glory.” Ace grinned, showcasing Sabo off. Luffy turned to Sabo and stared at him,

“You're alive?” 

“It seems so.” Sabo nodded. 

“Really?” Luffy's voice cracked. 

“Yeah… it's been forever. You've grown so much, Luffy.” His tone was soft and full of affection as he watched a waterfall of tears erupt from his little brother. 

“SABO!!!!” Luffy tackled him and squeezed him in a death tight bear hug, burying his face into Sabo's head.

“I'M SHO GLAH THAH YER ALIVE!!” He sobbed out incomprehensible words. Sabo struggled around in Luffy's bear hug to free his face and gasped when he finally broke free, looking up at Luffy with a smile despite the endless tears from his little brother dropping on his face,

“Sorry for not keeping in contact, Luffy. I see you really did become a pirate—and you even got your own crew now! I've only just so recently regained my memory, but I missed you so much. Sorry for getting a bit carried away with roughing up your friends.” Luffy cried out more nonsense words in reply.

“Jeez. You beat up the entire crew but you get such a warm welcome?” Ace sighed in the background, crossing his arms and seemed to sulk.

“Further proves who the favorite is.” Sabo smirked at Ace.

 _'Ah. So that's what they meant by favorite.’_ The crew realized. 

“Shut up. What about me, Luffy?” 

“What about you?” Sabo haughtily replied. 

“You-” Ace's growl was cut short by a rubber hand that had extended and gripped his shoulder.

“Wait Luffy—he's-” Sabo's warning was also cut short as Ace was sent flying towards them, making them all tumble to the ground. 

“...Thank God you didn't burst into flames.” Sabo sighed out, not even bothering to complain about Luffy being on top of him.

“I wouldn't burn Luffy.” Ace purposely elbowed Sabo. With just a _bit_ of flames.

“What about me?” Sabo grunted out from the elbow.  
_  
“What about you?”_ Ace mimicked with another hard blow to Sabo's gut. 

“Sorry to interrupt but…” Sanji limped over to the pile with his hands in his pockets, “Are you not going to try to kill us anymore?” 

“Ah… sorry about startling you all. And for damaging your leg. I never intended to actually kill any of you, you're Luffy's friend's after all. Also, I apologise for calling you by that name, I may have taken it too far.” Sabo nodded at Sanji's direction.

“No just… I don't associate with them, so I would appreciate it if you didn't call me that again.” 

“Of course.” He smiled. 

“I EEHY MIIH JSHSVFBBFFPPT!!” 

“Luffy, I have no idea what you're saying, calm down.” Sabo sighed out fondly, but still hugged his precious younger brother. It seems Luffy hasn't changed at all from his clingy crybaby little brother. 

“Luffy you're getting your snot all over me.” Ace grumbled and tried to shove Luffy off. Luffy made a loud sniff, wiped off the endless tears on his face, and sat up.

“I’VE MISSED YOU SO MUCH!!!”  


  


.x.

  


  


“So, you're really the no.2 of the Revolutionary Army?” Sanji asked as he served Sabo a cup of tea. How nice, Sabo thought. Especially after he threatened to break his leg _and_ skull more than once.

“Yes,” Sabo took a sip before placing it back down, “to be more accurate, I'm the chief of staff. However I'm more widely known as the no.2.” 

“So, what's the deal with the Whitebeard Pirate and pet?” Zoro jabbed his thumb towards Ace and plus one.

“Oh. Forgive me for not introducing myself. My name is Ace, also known as “Firefist Ace”, Second Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates. I'm Luffy's older brother, like Sabo.” He bowed in his seat. 

“Second Division Commander..?!” Zoro nearly bolted up from his seat.

“Eh? What? Is he strong?” Nami looked between Zoro and Ace in confusion. Zoro nodded,

“Yeah, the Whitebeard Pirates have 1,617 men—” 

Nami slammed her hands on the table, “1,617 men?!?!” 

“—so there's a total of 16 divisions in the crew, 100 men each. The ones in charge of those men are Division Commanders.” He explained. 

“Ho? You know quite a lot about us.” Ace smirked and Zoro replied to it with one of his own,

“Of course, I was a former bounty hunter after all. Although, I don't know the commanders name's, I'm from East Blue and it ain't easy getting reliable information of the Grand Line there.” 

“You got that right. Anyways, this flaming bird is actually a phoenix.” Ace motioned to the bird who was perched on a chair. It was smaller now, as it wouldn't have fit inside with its previous size. 

“Phoenix?! Like, an actual Phoenix??” Nami ran over to the bird, eyeing it and nervously reaching a hand out to pet it.

“That's right, he'll regenerate from any attack no problem. Pretty cool huh?” The bird made an almost huff like sound. 

“He said “What? So now you praise me?”.” Chopper translated, turning to Ace.

“I can't praise you, Pigeon? And you can understand him?” Ace rose a brow and Chopper nodded.

“Mhm… I'm a reindeer who ate the human-human fruit so I can understand animals.” He explained.

“Human-human fruit? That exists? Wait—you're a animal? No wonder your presence was so small…” 

“You… couldn't tell he was an animal? He obviously doesn't look human... And what do you mean presence?” Nami asked. 

“Er—well—I meant the presence I sensed with my Haki—It'd be a pain to explain now so I'll just explain Haki later since you'll need to know about it anyways.” How the hell was he supposed to know they had a talking animal? Not like he could see—well not like they knew that either. Chopper sheepishly walked over to the bird and extended a hoof,

“Hello, my name is Chopper, what’s yours?” The bird remained still, not making a single sound. But soon enough, it extended its wing out to Chopper. 

But then _smirked_ and burst into blue flames. Chopper made a loud “eep!!” sound as he froze up, watching the flames grow until they died down, a tall blonde man now standing in place of the flames. A _human_ hand shook Chopper's hoof with a smile. 

“First Division Commander, Marco the Phoenix. Nice to meet you, Chopper.” Everyone but Sabo's and Ace's jaws dropped.

“...Eh?” Was all the still frozen Chopper said.

“THE BIG BIRD TRANSFORMED INTO A HUMAN!!!” Luffy exclaimed and ran to the once bird and now human. 

  


“First… FIRST DIVISION COMMANDER?!?!” They all screamed at the top of their lungs, Sabo and Ace letting out a laugh at everyone's surprise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Marco was just remaining in his birb form to fuck with them


	5. Titled chapter 5 because I can't think of a name

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yeah this exists.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  ***breaks down door*** Sup. Here take this chapter bye.
> 
>  **Also I've edited this and the prev chapter so that it is now right after Water7 and Luffy's current bounty is 300 mil. So there's Sunny Go and Franky.** The last chap was rewritten a bit but reading it again isn't needed, I just kinda fixed up the writing a bit and added in Franky n Sunny.
> 
>  
> 
> ~~God I fucked up the timeline in this story bad but that's fine~~

“FIRST DIVISION COMMANDER?!”

“The one and only.” Marco smirked, sitting back down on his chair. 

“Ace! Ace! Your pet turned into a human!” Luffy ran over to Ace to violently shake him. Ace calmly sipped his tea.

“Yeah, it does that sometimes.” He shrugged. Marco shot him a look,

“Excuse you, I'm not your pet and I'm human most of the time.” 

“A-Are you a devil fruit user?” Nami asked, already clutching her staff which she had pulled out in self defense. 

“Yeah. I ate the Tori Tori no Mi, Model: Phoenix. What you saw was a controlled smaller version of my form, I didn't want to take up too much space.” 

“AOW! So you can like, transform into a giant flaming bird? That's SUUUPER!!” Franky said, chugging down a bottle of cola. 

“I-I-I wasn't scared at all, alright?” Usopp stuttered.

“A mythical zoan… so cool..!” Choppers eyes turned into sparkles as he gazed at the now human Marco. Marco smiled and gave Chopper a little pat on the head.

“Oh oh! Ace! Sabo! I gotta introduce you to my crew!” Luffy excitedly jumped up and down. Both of the brothers chuckled. 

“Sure, I only know of a few of them. An introduction of the people I just attacked sounds nice.” Sabo nodded.

“And I'm curious on what kind of people allow someone like Luffy to be their captain.” Ace added. Luffy beamed, immediately pointing to the first one. 

“That's Zoro, my swordsman! Oh right! He's the really strong one sitting against the wall. His hair is green, like grass!” 

“Oi.” Zoro sent a glare at his captain. Luffy pointed to another. 

“Nami, my navigator! She has orange hair, like the fruit! She looks kinda scary though. She's one of the standing ones, who Chopper—my doctor—is latched onto.” 

“I'm raising your debt for that.” Nami growled. 

“That's Franky and Robin!” Luffy continued, unminding of Nami's threat, “Franky is the big one, he's a cyborg! Isn't that cool?! Robin is the one sitting over there, she has black hair. Like uhhh... the night! Franky has super cool blue hair. Oh! Do you remember what blue is like?” Marco rose a brow at Luffy's question, turning to Ace who sighed.

“Blue is the colour of the sky and ocean. Of course I remember, blue was one of the colours you described the most since you like the ocean so much.” 

“Yeah yeah! That's right! Oh right! I'm not done yet. That's Sanji, he's the other strong one like Zoro. He's my cook, the best cook in world! He's blonde just like Sabo is!” As the explanation went on, Marco grew more and more confused. Luffy would point to someone and start describing their features as if Ace wasn't there to see it himself. Then he'd sometimes randomly stop to ask if Ace remembers what colour something was like. It was… weird. And it seemed like he wasn't the only one thinking that. Luffy's crew seemed to be sending him odd looks after a while. In the middle of describing Usopp, Usopp himself spoke up.

“Uh, Luffy? I don't think you need to explain our appearances like that, I'm sure Ace can tell what we look like.” Ace froze.

“Hm? Oh! Ace can't—”

“It's fine, Luffy's always done that.” Sabo spoke up, cutting Luffy off, “We grew up in a forest, education isn't the greatest there. I was the only one with any real schooling for reasons I don't wish to get into, so I was the one who ended up teaching Luffy. Since he was so young, I taught him rather childishly. He learned his colours by describing what items have that colour to me and Ace. Guess it stuck.” Ace relaxed, sending a thankful nod over at Sabo. He really wasn't in the mood to lie when Marco was right there.

“It's not—” Luffy tried denying that, but Robin jumped in. 

“Luffy, I think I saw an island earlier. It looked pretty interesting, mind checking it out for me?” She sent a smile to Luffy who immediately jumped up. 

“What?! An island?! I'll be right back!” Luffy snagged some food with a rubbery hand and bolted out the door. Ace focused in on the presences of everyone. They felt confused, a little lost. Some seemed to suspect something, but luckily no one realized what exactly was being hidden. Except, maybe one. He gave Robin a nod, hoping she got the message. Honestly, he trusted Luffy's crew. Luffy was good at choosing people. He wouldn't mind if they found out, they weren't enemies, at least at the moment. But Marco was still here, and he won't have him find out. Him or the crew treating him special or looking at him with pity was the last thing he wanted. 

“So? What brought the sudden visit of the Revolutionary Army Chief of Staff and two Whitebeard Commanders?” Robin asked, taking a sip of her tea, “If it was just to say hello, that was a rather flashy hello.” 

“Ah… sorry about that. We'll talk about it when Luffy comes b—” The door slammed open, Luffy running inside shortly after.

“There's an island! Big trees! Lots of big trees! Like a forest! There might be meat there! Nami! Nami! Let's go there!” He bounced over to his navigator, tugging on her wrist with a wide grin. She sighed and pulled her hand away.

“Later. First let's hear why your brothers decided to suddenly pay a visit.” 

“But Namiiii—”

 _“Later.”_ Luffy huffed but sat down, but not before pouting and crossing his arms. Sabo cleared his throat to get their attention. 

“Anyways, I heard you guys were going to the New World, right?” 

“Yeah…we just came from Water 7.” Nami nodded.

“We thought so. We came to see how strong you guys are. I care about Luffy, Ace and I both do. And you're his friends, so neither me nor Ace want anything to happen to you. Simply put it,” Sabo hardened his look, “you're all going to be completely wiped out.” Luffy's crew didn't like that answer too well.

“How can you be the judge of that when we haven't even tried?” Zoro scowled, reaching for his swords. Ace grinned,

“Well, I think this is the perfect opportunity. There's an island nearby, right? Let's fight there. You can all fight against me together at once if you want. Weapons and devil fruits are ok too.” 

 

“Really think you can take _all_ of us on at once? We couldn't go all out earlier because we were on the Sunny Go.” Sanji stepped forward. Ace wanted to scoff, as if whether they were on the ship or not would change anything. 

“Yeah, I can take you all on with my eyes closed.” _‘Oh. That sure pissed off two of them… Sanji and Zoro, I think.’_ Ace hummed as their presences sparked and flickered with anger. He didn't mention that there would be no difference whether or not his eyes were open or closed. Not just because of the gap of strength, but, well, no sight in the first place.

“You just want to show off, don't you?” Marco rose a brow. But he _was_ amused, because he knew Ace could probably take most of these rookies with both hands behind his back.

“Oh trust me. Ace always wants to show off for Luffy.” Sabo chimed in with a scoff, “he gets to be “big brother” again now that Luffy is here.” 

“Shut up Sabo.” Ace flicked a little wisp of flames over to Sabo, which was swatted away like a fly. He heard Marco chuckle,

“I'm interested in watching this little fight myself yoi, may I watch?” Marco asked with a small smirk.

“Since when did you start asking for permission to watch me? You seem to do it plenty of times without it. Especially at my ass.” The cook tripped over his own foot and nearly dropped the tea he was about to serve, Nami dropped the logpose she was reading, Usopp choked on his drink a little, and Robin chuckled. 

“It's hard not to look at someone who throws flames around like nothing. And your ass is too good _not_ to look at.” Marco defended himself. 

"Thanks.”

“Alright alright.” Sabo clapped his hands together, “Flirt later, I've had enough of watching you two. Er, Nami, right? Are we changing course to the island?” He turned to Nami who cleared her throat and picked up her log pose again.

“Yes… if we don't these idiots will probably try to get there themselves. Franky, can you man the wheel? I'll come with you.” 

“Sure!” Franky flashed a thumbs up and followed Nami outside. Luffy then bounced over to his brothers with a thousand—no—billion watt smile, eagerly tugging on Sabo's coat.

“You guys _gotta_ tell me about your adventures! I got lots I want to share too!!” He pleaded, tugging harder. 

“Ah, you know, just burning shit.” Ace shrugged.

“As for me, trying to destroy and overthrow the World Government with the most wanted man in the world, Dragon.” Sabo shrugged as well, lifting up his cup for another sip of tea.

“Oh. You mean my dad?” 

“Yeah—” Sabo took a sip and then immediately began coughing his lungs out, “Wait—what?” He spluttered.

“Gramps said that he's my dad.” 

“Dragon-san was born because of that geezer?! Him??” Sabo and Ace both _knew_ Luffy was a beyond horrible liar, but to believing Dragon was the spawn of Garp of all people was easier said than done.

“We were all just as shocked, we recently learned of that fact as well. It was one shock after another, considering Vice Admiral Garp suddenly broke into where we were resting and Luffy called him his Grandfather.” Robin said, and now _Marco_ was the one choking, whipping his head towards Ace,

“That insane old man is your gramps yoi?!” 

“Unfortunately.” Ace shrugged—but also shuddered at the same time as he remembered Garp's “Fists of Love”, “He's actually Luffy's gramps, but he raised me. Sorta. Like, once or twice a year sorta. Came around to yell at me to be a marine and punched the shit out of me before leaving again.” 

“I don't think that's how you raise a child yoi.”

“Dumped me and Luffy onto bandits, and expected us to become “fine Marines”. I don't think he really knows how to raise children.” Ace sighed.

“Always called us by “stupid grandsons” instead of our actual names as children.” Sabo added. Marco rubbed the bridge of his nose,

“This family is insane.” 

“More importantly,” Ace changed the subject (not that he didn't agree with Marco), “I heard you got a new bounty, Luffy. Haven't been able to read what you've been up to to become such a big shot, how about you tell me yourself?” 

“Oh!” Luffy beamed, “When we first got into the Grand Line we saw this huuuuge whale! We became friends! And then we saw dragons! Dragons!! Then I beat up a Warlord cause he was a jerk. And I punched God, also a jerk. Oh and declared war on the World Government apparently, but I only did that cause they were also jerks and stole Robin. I've been meeting a lot of jerks.” 

“... Yeah that'll give you a bounty of 300,000,000. Good job, Luffy. As both your older brother and a Revolutionary, I'm proud.” Sabo hummed.

“I'm a bit curious on what he means by punching God though. But I don't think I want to ask.” Ace sighed. 

“We went to Sky Island and met-” 

“Everyone! We're pulling up to the island!” Nami's voice called from outside, cutting off Luffy's most likely borderline if not completely insane adventure story. Luffy jumped up, and bolted out yelling “island!”

“Well. I guess that means it's time to head outside.” Sabo said, standing. Ace grunted and stood up as well, except he was thinking it would be a great idea to go ahead of everyone and not pay attention to sounds. Big mistake. Walked right into the doorway mid-warning from Sabo. 

“A-Are you ok?” A tiny—Chopper? Yeah Chopper—asked nervously, trotting beside him. Ace was tempted to punch the damn wall because fuck it for being in the way and now both Sabo _and_ Marco were laughing at him. But he refrained, and instead sent a reassuring smile to the small… reindeer. 

“I'm fine, I was just staring off into space.” 

 

“You might… wanna actually listen to sound and not just focus on Haki…” Sabo said between horribly muffled laughter. Asshole. 

“Shut it, Sabo.” Ace grunted and lightly tapped his foot against the deck. Tsk. He forgot that he was on the second floor… stairs are a pain so he'll just jump. Landing on the first deck with a graceful hop, Ace walked up behind Luffy who was excitedly pointing ahead.

 

“Ace! Ace! Look! An island!!” He exclaimed, grabbing Ace's wrist. 

“Luffy. I can't.” 

“Oh. Right.” Luffy turned to Sabo who came up shortly after, “Hey Sabo! Look! An island! With lots of trees!” 

“You're right, the trees are pretty big too. Maybe not as big as the ones back home though.” 

“Can't tell from here.” Ace grunted. 

“We’re pretty close already yoi, is your eyesight bad or something?” Marco asked beside Sabo. Ace pursed his lips,

“Something like that—”

“ALRIGHT! LET'S GO!!” Ace stilled as a rubbery arm wrapped around him multiple times, and felt a few others get pressed against him. He sensed the other arm stretching out and grabbing something else in the distance. 

“Shit—dammit Luffy!!” A man—Zoro? Sanji? One of the strong one's—yelped. And suddenly, they were flying through the air. Ace broke one arm free to hold down his sunglasses in place. He did _not_ like this. All he could hear was the blasting wind and the screams of Luffy's crewmates. There weren't any people or even animals nearby so that he could sense and get a general idea of how close they are till landing. He didn't know where they were in the sky and when they'd land. He hated it. 

“CAN'T YOU JUST GET OFF THE SHIP LIKE A NORMAL PERSON FOR ONCE?!” Was the last thing Ace heard before crashing into the ground, he turned into flames in defense and quickly backed away in order to not burn anyone. Now with proper footing, Ace relaxed and sensed everyone currently here. _'Lets see… Luffy, Sabo… Err… the two strongest ones besides Luffy, one of the girls… Nami? A screaming guy… Luffy sure grabbed a lot…’_ Ace dusted himself off and adjusted his shades, making sure they're firmly in place. 

“I would like to say a warning would be nice next time, but knowing you, even asking that would be too much to ask.” Sabo sighed and dusted himself off as well. Ace sensed Marco flying towards them… seems like he's in his human form with wings. Show off. 

“Your landings are as graceful as ever yoi.” Marco chuckled and did a very unnecessary extra flap of his wings after landing. Ace ignored the cocky pigeon in favour of turning to what he assumed was their ship approaching. 

“You guys alive?” A man, Franky, if Ace remembered correctly, yelled. 

“Just barely! I almost saw the flowerbed of heaven for a second!” Uhhh… Ya-Usopp yelled. Wrong guy. 

“YOU IDIOT!! AT LEAST GIVE US A WARNING!!” Nami screamed, hitting Luffy across the head. Luffy didn't seem to mind, in fact he seemed use to it. After a few moments, the rest of the crew joined them. Luffy began chanting, 

“Spar with Ace spar with Ace spar with Ace spar with Ace!!” 

“Why are you so excited for? It's almost all of us against one, right? It should be a pretty easy battle now that we're not on the Sunny Go. And he doesn't even have a weapon besides that dagger of his.” Usopp said.

“Ace and Sabo are really strong! Even before Ace got his devil fruit, I could never beat him no matter how many spars a day we did! I would always get completely destroyed!” Ace felt several of their presences drop right after Luffy said that. Oho? That much scared already?

“Don't worry don't worry, I won't use any weapons. I don't need them anyways.” Ace grabbed his dagger attached to his hip and tossed it to where he felt Marco standing at. He never used the thing anyways in the first place.

“I think I'm going to pass up on this fight! I-I'm not afraid or anything though!” Usopp said, backing away.

“I'll pass too!” Chopper skidded over to hide behind Usopp.

“Me Three! No thank you!” Nami joined Chopper in hiding behind the trembling Usopp.

“Fufu, I'll pass myself. I think this'll be interesting to watch.” Robin said.

“AOW! I'll join in on the fight!! I'm full on cola and ready to fight!” Franky yelled with a pose. A rather odd pose if he was sensing it right, Ace must add. 

“Oi curly, sure you don't want to sit this one out? It might be too hard on your poor leg~” Zoro taunted. Ace felt a flare in Sanji's presence. 

“What was that you shitty swordsman? I think _you're_ the one who should sit out, I can probably take this guy on myself.” 

“What?” Zoro glared, grabbing his swords. Ace sighed, raising his hand before he ended up just standing there while the two fought.

“Alright alright. Are we going to start now or what?” He said. The two momentarily stopped and the swordsman clicked their tongue. 

“Tch. Fine. Let's see if you can _really_ defeat us with your eyes closed. Don't blame us if you end up dead.” Zoro already began drawing his swords, walking up to him with Sanji by his side. Ace hummed and reached for his sunglasses. His fingers lingered before he shut his eyes and slowly removed them. He didn't like doing this, especially not in front of people and _especially_ not with Marco watching. But as long as he kept his eyes closed, it should be fine. 

“Sabo.” He clutched it for a moment before taking a deep breath and chucking it to Sabo, “Hold onto that for me for a bit.” 

“Alright.” Sabo nodded. Ace then turned to everyone who now surrounded him. Facing them won't really change anything, but eh. What's the harm?

“Alright! Take this, Ace!!” Ace heard Luffy say, “Gum Gum…” 

“Let me guess, pistol?” Ace guessed, and sure enough, Luffy yelled that right after. Ace didn't even bother to move as a fist passed harmlessly through him. Luffy yelped and quickly pulled back his arm.

“Ow! Hot hot hot hot HOT! That's cheating, Ace! I can't hit you!” Luffy fumed and pointed accusingly to him. Ace shrugged and bolted forward, standing in front of Luffy in mere seconds. 

“Cheating? Didn't realize we were saints. Last I checked, we were pirates, Luffy.” A sword cut through Ace's neck, which flames easily filled the gap. Unaffected, Ace turns to at the irritated swordsman to give him a… _light_ punch. A light flaming punch. They jumped back, but not after receiving a _bit_ of a scorch on their chest. 

“There's more than just two people here!” A boisterous voice yelled, “FRRRRANKY… BOXING!!!” Each punch harmlessly phrased through him, and Ace yawned just to annoy them. Which worked, of course. 

“Dammit! He's like Crocodile and that damn Marine! What the hell are we supposed to do against someone we can't hit?!” Sanji clicked his tongue and sent a useless kick to Ace. Ace brought a hand to his chin and hummed, ignoring the flurry of kicks currently going through him.

“That's a good question. Are you just going to tell them that they're cheating? Think that'll solve all your problems? Or will you just keep hitting and hope something works? Or, simply run away each time? You'll get nowhere like that. Especially in the New World.” Ace calmly said through the blows of the strongest trio. They certainly weren't too happy with his carefree attitude. 

“So… Luffy. Remember Gramp's Fists of Love?” Luffy jerked back and let out a “geh!” sound. As expected, Luffy remembers _very_ well. But then again, the Fist of Love was no easy thing to forget. Well, this wasn't going to be no Fist of Love. But it'll hurt. 

“Heads up.” Was the only warning Ace gave as he covered his arm in Armament Haki, giving Luffy a punch across the head.

“LUFFY!!” Chopper, Nami, and Usopp cried.

“IT HUUURTSSSS!!!” Luffy cried out and fell backwards, clutching the bump and flailing around on the ground.

“It… hurts?” Sanji froze, turning to look at Luffy, but froze when he saw Ace's arm, “What the hell is up with your arm?! Is it part of your devil fruit?!”

“No, this is Haki.” 

“Haki?” 

“Armament Haki, to be precise. It lets you hit Logias like me, and still hurt people like Luffy even if he can't feel pain from brute force. Also just makes your attacks stronger.” Ace explained, covering both of his arms in Haki. Hey, If Marco can show off, so can he. 

“Huh. Never seen that before.” Franky hummed, getting uncomfortably close to Ace to examine his arms. 

“Of course not. I'd be more surprised if you have, considering this is Paradise. Anyone can learn Haki, at least the first two—Observation and Armament. You have to be born with the third type, like me and Luffy.” 

“Huh? I have Haki?” Luffy looked up and tilted his head. Ace nodded,

“Yeah. Doubt you knew, though.” 

“Nope. Not at all.” 

“Anyways, the fight is already over, why do you still have your eyes closed?” Zoro asked with a grunt. 

“... When your Observation Haki is good enough, you don't really need to see. Some are even as good to the point where they can hear others thoughts or feel their emotions.” Ace said, walking over to Sabo and taking his sunglasses back. He put them back on before adding, 

“I can't hear others thoughts, but I can feel their emotions. So I can always tell when a certain pigeon is looking at me like he wants me in his bedroom.” 

“WE DIDN'T NEED TO KNOW THAT!!” Sanji barked out, storming over to kick him but only passed right through.

“Sorry _Firecracker_ , but that's my favourite passing time yoi.” Marco smirked as Ace's face lit up.

“I told you to stop calling me by Shanks’ weird nicknames!” His shoulders sparked and caught fire. 

“Uh-oh, careful Marco. You might get the bitch slap I got earlier. The flaming tsundere is mad.” 

“I'm about to give _you_ another “bitch slap”—”

“Hey hey, Ace?” Luffy suddenly cut in.

 _“What?”_ Ace growled, controlling his flames again.

“I've been wondering, but were you bitten by something? Cause your neck is all bruised and covered in bite marks like you were attacked by a pack of wolves. But I don't get it cause we couldn't hit you so why did you get bitten? Did whatever bite you have that Haki thing?” Luffy's crew seemed to jerk and run over to Luffy to either tackle him or cover his mouth. 

“You idiot!! We were trying to ignore that!” One, which Ace guessed was Usopp, hissed.

“That's right! I don't want to hear about where or how he and that bird got those marks!!” And that one sounded like the cook, Sanji. Ace grinned, he knew Luffy wouldn't get what he was about to say, but _they_ would.

“Oh. Don't worry about it. I just teased a pigeon and they got a little too excited.” Needless to say, Ace rather enjoyed their loud shrieks and attempts in covering their ears. That certainly brought his mood up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'ALL THOUGHT LUFFY WAS GONNA BE THE REASON MARCO FOUND OUT ACE WAS BLIND?! NOPE 
> 
>  
> 
> ~~Also thank Doggyband and uhhhhhhh ALP I FORGOT UR AO3 AGAIN— because I would've avoided this thing for like another 3 months otherwise.~~ Especially Doggyband since they chose for me to work on this in the first place, then I decided eh might as well update this thing.


End file.
